Bonds Worth Striving For
by RobbinRob
Summary: Envy is bitter over Hoenhiem's sudden disappearance, so beating up the Pipsqueak in search for the Philosopher Stone should relieve some of that anger, but how will such a confrontation be settled, and what will it mean for future developments? EdxEnvy; NOT YAOI or BL.
1. Chapter 1 Target

Hello people, this is my first fanfic ever, and it's on _FullMetal Alchemist_ , a top favorite anime in my book. In case you couldn't tell, I really like the idea of Ed and Envy being a thing, though I'm a dude. Even though everyone says Envy is a boy, "he" is really an "it", for Envy is androgynous IMO and has no definite gender to speak of. Matter of fact, all homunculi are genderless by human standards since they are not shown to have reproductive capabilities themselves (Ex: giving birth). So in this case, Envy and Ed aren't really a gay couple, they're just that, a couple, in this case. Baring that in mind,THIS WON'T BE A YAOI OR BOY X BOY LOVE. THIS FANFIC WILL FEATURE A FEMALE ENVY AT POINTS, AND YES, I KNOW THAT ENVY IS HOHENHEIM'S SON IN 2003 VERSION, BUT THE HOMUNCULUS, ENVY, IS NOT RELATED TO EDWARD BY BLOOD, OR HUMAN FOR THAT MATTER. AND CAN SHAPESHIFT AT WILL **IF THIS UPSETS YOU, DON'T READ THIS STORY**. For simplisticity sake, I'll pretend that Envy is a boy, but just bare in mind the genderless aspect of Envy. Nevertheless, here's the first chapter called _Targets._

Chapter 1: Targets

Days after Alphonse became a philosopher stone, the Elric brothers had become popular targets in the eyes of the remaining homunculi, which included Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, and King Bradley. Of course, you can't forget about Dante, but Envy, in particular, simply couldn't stand the thought of the Elric Brothers having something as precious as the Philosopher's Stone in their grasp. It made him boil with intense anger as this could mess up his chances of reaching Hohenheim, and killing the man himself. But where would Envy even start looking, and would the stone even grant his promise of vengeance? Such questions didn't come to Envy's mind as he started to dash towards the entrance of Dante's Base. He, however, is stopped by Dante herself, in her Lyra body at that, and they start to conversate.

"Where are you going, Envy?" Dante said.

Envy, looking quite irritated yelled, "None of your business you old hag! I have a score to settle."

Dante, with a stern look, clapped her hands, which protruded multiple rocky spikes below Envy's feet, impaling him in place as he yelped of the pain.

"Envy, its not nice to talk to your mother that way."

There was an eager, yet malicious gleam in Envy's eyes as he showed off his vile smile and chuckled at the remark.

"Dante, you are not my mother, and you never will be."

Envy continued. "I'm still pissed that you let Hohenheim get away before I could torture him to death! If the philosopher's stone can grant me that much, I will claim it! I will! -

"It seems you've forgotten your place Envy. The stone is not for you to use in hopes of satisfying your sadistic pleasures of taking Hohenheim's head."

Dante smirked with arrogance, "The quest for eternal life is more worthwhile than the murder of your sorry excuse for a father. Should you rebel, I will give you the same treatment I gave Greed."

…."You wouldn't want that, would you?" She smiled slyly knowing that Envy wanted no part in that type of outcome.

Envy had calmed himself down. "You're such a pain in the ass…"

With that, Dante released the alchemic structure she placed on Envy, leaving him on the ground to heal himself.

Looking at him, "Well considering the last 4 centuries, I think I've been pretty normal, haven't I son?"

Envy just grunted as he rose on his feet. Despite Dante's rather withered condition, he knows his place when confronting Dante, and can't disobey her will. After all, they are supposed to be mother and son, but what a dysfunctional family the homunculi are. Gluttony continuously calls out for his beloved Lust not knowing shes already dead. Wrath constantly whines and wishes to revive his deceased "mother" Sloth with the philosopher's stone despite the failure rate. And King Bradley is a power-hungry warlord. A family that's filled with individual ambitions for power and purpose does not make for a loving environment. And Envy received the shortest end of the stick with having to live through 400 years with someone like Dante, and all the while, fuelled with hatred for Hoenheim and humanity in general. He was determined to reach his goal, even if it meant being manipulated by a parasite such as Dante.

"Now, are you just going to stand there and let the beloved Elric brothers use the stone for themselves and you get nothing in return?" Dante said chuckling a bit as she walked off into her room leaving Envy by himself to come to a decision.

"Hehe, stupid bitch, shouldn't the answer be obvious!?" Envy shouted as he rushed through the door in pursuit for the philosopher stone and the brothers.

At that moment, Dante went to see Pride, whom had waited patiently for Dante to appear accordingly.

"So, what now?" Pride asked with a smirk on his face.

"I'll leave that for you to decide." Dante said as she gives Pride a long box.

"Oh Master, I don't mean to disregard your gift, but it's nowhere near my birthday." Pride said then chuckled softly.

Dante chuckled as well. "Oh don't worry, I'm not going insane. I assure you that this 'gift' should come in handy for your upcoming operations."

Dante turned around and took a few steps forward only to look back over her shoulder and say "You'll be aware of what's inside the box, but think of it as a last measure if you will."

Pride nodded his head. "Well, I'll be sure to make the best of this." Pride bowed his head down in her direction. "Thank you, master."

Dante smiled at Prides gratitude. "Oh I'll trust that you see to your duties successfully. After all, you are a masterpiece of mine."

End of Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2 Brothers

CHAPTER 2: The Brothers

Ed and Alphonse kept their distances as they walked through miles upon miles of grassy fields to reach the nearest train station. Their destination, Resembool. Edward had decided that the best plan of action was to hide Al in their hometown, a place where the homunculi didn't have much knowledge about in terms of location. As the brothers were on their way there, they kept the talking down to a minimum to keep the silence until Al started talking.

"Hey brother."

"Yes Al?" Ed said a bit concerned.

"Where are you going to store me when we go home?"

Ed nodded his head downward as though he thought carefully about Al's question. He responses,

"I'm going to create an underground bunker in which you will hide out for the time-being. How does that sound?"

"Are there going to be sheep in this bunker?" Al said jokingly to lighten up the mood a bit.

Ed laughed being reminded of how Al, when traveling by train, always settled in the luggage area with farm animals, usually sheep.

"Hey you never know, but let's not risk anything touching you in your current state….and no cats either!" Ed said loudly to get his point across.

"And another thing Al, please do not exit the bunker and wonder off on your own again. You had me very worried when you left that hotel room to seek out Shou Tucker." He said now showing a serious face.

"...Ok brother." Al said in a shameful tone.

Ed could see his brother really regretted that previous decision and sighed. "Look I know you get the point, but we really can't afford to do anything reckless like that anymore, especially knowing there's an homunculus like Envy who can shapeshift at will. That's why you need to stay put."

"But brother, what are you going to do while i'm hiding?" Al said curiously?

Ed really had to think about the question for he didn't think that far ahead seeing as how he was more concerned about keeping Al out of harm's way than anything else. At the very least, Ed wants to learn as much as possible about the properties of the stone to then learn how to destroy it if that's even possible too. After all, it's the right thing to destroy the stone right?

As a response, Ed said, "Well, to be honest, I would like to know how to properly destroy the stone altogether..so I'm going to be doing lots of studying and traveling for the time-being."

Al with a saddened tone in his voice said "Oh, so I guess you'll be away for a while huh?"

Ed felt somewhat bad for eventually leaving his brother in a dark bunker all by himself while he goes exploring. Thus, Ed decides to make it up to him.

"Hey don't worry your head off, I promise I won't die while I'm gone, and I'll try to make this quest as short as possible so that I can check up on you." Ed said reassuringly.

"And who said the bunker had to be dark and boring? I'll make a room for ya" Ed said excitedly as he continued.

"It'll have books for keeping your knowledge sharp, some paper to write on to stay creative, and a punching bag to keep your body and fighting skills from getting rusty….literally."

Alphonse laughed a bit at Ed's joke, and as he started to feel better about the bunker idea, he took advantage of the moment to ask Ed one crucial question.

"That sounds great brother, but can you add one more item to the list please?" Alphonse asked cautiously.

"Hmm yeah speak up" Edward said with a confused look on his face.

"Can I still have a cat for company?! I'll promise not to let it touch the stone! I'll duct tape my chest plate down as a reminder to not open it up! Please Ed, please!?"

Al said trying his best to convince his older brother.

Ed had a feeling this would happen, and he figured he couldn't blame Alphonse for feeling this way since being left all alone in a secluded location can drive anyone insane, even a soul trapped in an empty suit of armor.

With a deep sigh, Ed decided to go along with Al's proposal.

"Alright Al, just make sure that cat has absolutely no interaction with the stone, and be sure always keep your helmet on so the cat can't enter your body through your head slot." Ed said sternly.

"YIPEE! Thank so much brother, I'll be sure not to let anything stupid happen" Al said happily.

Ed couldn't help but smile.

"I know, I can trust you this time considering you've learned your lesson from last time."

And with that the brothers continued their journey to the train station. It took them a day later to finally reach one nearby, and with that, they were on their way to Resembool. The train rides to Resembool were always peaceful when it came to the scenery and the passengers. Although, things were a bit different as they weren't going to their hometown for a family reunion, far from it. The train ride itself was about as quiet as the journey to the train station, and once again, it was up to Alphonse to break the silence with yet another important question that has always lingered in both brothers minds.

"Brother, I know that you want to find a way to destroy the stone, but…"

Ed looked at Al with a zoned out look on his face from looking out the train window for too long.

"If destroying the stone doesn't work, what then?"

Ed chuckled a little as he had didn't know how to respond to a question like that.

"I guess..we'll...shit….I don't really know to be honest. If it comes to that conclusion, then I guess we might have to….no there's gotta be a way to destroy the stone! I swear there's gotta be some way! After all, if Equivalent Exchange is true in that human lives are sacrificed to make the stone, then there gotta be some other alchemic reaction that can break the stone! At least I want to believe…." Ed said with some confidence.

Alphonse looked at his brother with a worrisome gleam in his ghostly red eyes. "Yeah, we'll see."

Al had figured to not bother his brother with anymore questions as they already had so much on their plate to worry about as is. From then on, the train ride was practically silent with the only sounds coming from other passengers or the train riding over the steel tracks. As the passing scenery changed from small urban towns to mountains and open land, the boys knew that Resembool was right up ahead.

Once the train came to correct stop, the boys came off the train along with whatever luggage they had carried along the trip. They were finally home, both brothers taking in the welcoming sunshine and fresh air that the peaceful town of Resembool had before heading off to Winry's house.

"I think we should tell Winry and Pinnaco of our plan first so we don't worry them to death" Ed said with a small smile.

"Good Idea" Alphonse responded.

"And better yet, I know just the right spot to place the bunker!" Ed said with much enthusiasm

"I'll make the bunker right below their house, so that way, either Winry or Pinako can check up on you, and you'll be close enough to family without being out in the open!" Ed finally finished, feeling like a superhero after coming up with this new realization.

This made Al feel ten times better than he did before. He suddenly started to praise his brother for this rather comforting proposition.

"That sounds great brother! I was under the assumption that you were going to place me in some remote cave or forest somewhere." Al said chuckling at his own ideas.

Ed chuckled at the remarks as well. "Oh c'mon Al, I can't do that to my one and only brother. I gotta make sure that you're safe and sane, and I'm sure that Winry and them won't mind the idea."

"Alright brother" Al finishes with a happy tone as the brothers continue their walk to their destination. Once again, the mood was rather peaceful, yet uplifting for the brothers as they walk through familiar territory. The nice breeze always reminded the brothers of their childhood, and once they saw their burned down home, they were reminded of their mother. Not only that, but they were reminded of a certain homunculus...Sloth?

"Hey brother. Do you think the homunculi are redeemable?" Al asked with a hint of sadness. Being reminded of Sloth haunted him especially.

"Well, considering they're constantly on our asses, I can't say for sure...although." Ed said cutting himself off as he thought back to Greed who helped him learn of the homunculus weakness, and Lust who temporarily assisted him in battle.

"Although what?" Al asked with curiosity.

"Hmm never mind, I don't trust them." Ed said in hopes of silencing this uncomfortable conversation.

Al still continues "But-"

Ed cut his brother off quickly "No Al, you remember our previous encounters with them. Did they seem friendly to you? To us? It's hard to imagine that these creatures who embody humanities sins could ever be redeemable. They're dangerous, ambitious, and simply put, merciless to human life, that's why we have to watch out for them."

"But brother, aren't we also the same way? You didn't hesitate to kill Sloth, that's not the merciful brother I used to know." Al rebutted.

"Yeah, but that was a life-or-death situation Al, and you know it. The moment we go soft for these homunculi may be the moment we lose the fight altogether." Ed said with a serious tone.

Al couldn't combat that statement as he knows his brother is right, so he finally gave up this short clash of ideals as he nodded his head in response to his older brothers last words. Moments later, they were finally at the house. It looked as it always should, tall and standing. When Ed knocked on the door, the brothers were greeted by none other than Pinako.

"Oh, would you look at that, Edward and Alphonse, welcome home." Pinako said with a warm smile.

"Hey Pinako, it's good to be home, although, we didn't come here for a visit." Ed said, ready to get to the point.

"Hmm, then why the visit?" Pinako said with eyebrows up and arched.

"We came here to store Al away safely from harm's way, and we decided that your house would make for a great location." Ed said.

"Ok, but what's going on? Did Al get injured or something? Pinako said.

Al got ready to respond. "No Pinako, I'm fine..,sort of." Afterwards, Al took off his chest plate to reveal the shining blood-red Philosopher Stone in front of Pinako. She responded with a gasp.

"You see, I house the Philosopher's Stone in my body, and for the time being, I'm gonna hide out here at your house while brother goes out to look for information on how to destroy the stone." Al said.

"My-my, well come in first; we'll talk it over some tea and porridge. You two must be hungry after all." Pinako stated.

Afterwards, the two brothers settled in the house after the welcoming. Ed took a shower to clean off while Al helped Pinako with the meals as well as conversate with her for a bit.

"So, its almost my birthday, and a philosopher stone as a gift wouldn't be so bad" Pinako said jokingly while Al was setting the silverware on the dinner table.

Al laughed softly. "Yeah if only the stone wasn't so corrupt, maybe I would consider."

Shortly after, Ed walked to one of the sits at the table to sit down and wait for the food to be ready.

"Hey Pinako, where's Winry?" Ed asked.

"Oh, she's gone to a nearby town to pick up some automail parts." She replied.

Ed nodded his head in understandment.

"Oh, by the way, Al's going to settle inside a bunker underneath your basement, but don't worry, it's going to be hidden and closed off by alchemy, and it can only be opened up by alchemy." Ed said bluntly to Pinako.

Pinako was cooking some type of stew the meanwhile. "Is that really necessary, the basement should be enough."

"Well, we can't be too careful, and I wanna make certain that Al will be alright and well-hidden from any danger." Ed said having a guilty look on his face.

Pinako nodded her head. She seemed to understand to the severity of the brothers situation.

"And Pinako, we're sorry for bringing this on you. Should you let us do this, you'll be a potential target for the homunculi if they ever show up here. For that reason, I've requested access to a small apartment for you and Winry to go to just in case." Ed said.

Pinako was rather flattered at Eds offer. "Well, while I appreciate the offer, I'll take my chances here; wouldn't want to leave your younger brother here all alone, would ya?"

At that moment, Ed looked at Al, and Al looked content with Pinakos decision.

"Alright, fair enough, but the apartment request will be there for about 2 months just in case." Ed said finally.

Afterwards, everyone ate their meals, chatted a bit on other topics, and cleaned up after themselves. Funny enough, Ed decided to have a sparring match with Al because it may be their last for a while; of course, Ed lost the fight as always. Later on that day, Ed transmuted the bunker, and added on what he said he would for Als sake. By the time he finished, it was time to go to bed. It was a long day for both brothers, and Ed already decided that tomorrow would be his time to depart from his family in search of more information on the stone, but rest came first.

END OF CHAPTER 2


	3. Chapter 3 Parallels

Chapter 3: Parallels

FOR THIS CHAPTER, I WANT TO TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT. THIS IS THE POINT OF THE STORY WHERE I ALTERNATE BETWEEN THE POINTS OF VIEW WITH ENVY, EDWARD, AND THIRD PERSON. FIRST, IM GONNA TACKLE ENVY'S SIDE OF THE STORY, THEN END THIS CHAPTER OFF WITH ED.

 **ENVY POV**

God damnit! Here I am looking for a short-ass runt, and a living tin can around this damn country for the stone. I assure you, that stone will be mine, but I've decided not to let my anger blind my direction.

I ran at full throttle until I arrived at some random town that borders Central. I took the perfect opportunity to transform into your average and worthless human boy. As much as the plan pained me, I pretended to be a long-lost friend of the brothers who wanted to search for them. Oh, but the reality was quite the contrary. I wanted to torture those boys until they screamed for mercy.

I would go around with fake enthusiasm, asking people "Hi! Have you seen the FullMetal Pip - I mean Alchemist lately?" But to my luck, nobody in this dull-ass town saw who I was looking for. Hell, some of the towns people never even heard of the guy. Ha, just goes to show how worthless and oblivious humans are.

Speaking of this town, it's called _Cement Town_ when it really should be called _Ignorant Town,_ and its known for having folks who mine in the nearby caves for all sorts of minerals. I only wish the Philosopher's Stone was on that list of minerals. Anyhow, the streets were made out of cobblestone that was smooth and cool to the touch of my feet. The houses and buildings were small in size, mainly comprised of blacksmith workshops, some markets, and living quarters. The skies on that day were bleak and cloudy, making the town look rather depressing, like my life damnit. There's also this famous library that houses lots of books on different types rocks and minerals as well, sounds boorringg. And there's also a train station in this town along with some minecarts that are used to access the nearby mines and tunnels. And did I mention, the town settled next to a large and lush jungle called _Concordia Jungle,_ what does that even mean? I swear the words these humans come up with.

Then the idea struck me. The boys are too stupid and prideful to use the stone right away, so I figured they would be trying to read up on every damn book in Amestris to learn more on the stone first. I knew this because we all know what happened in Lab 5, oh how I wanted to slug him in the head so hard. Considering my surroundings, I anticipated that the boys would arrive in a place like this.

When the thoughts crossed my mind, a light switch came on. Why hunt for my prey when I can blend in and wait to strike? Clever, aren't I? As I continued to walk down the towns streets in that boy form, I had my signature grin on my face; I couldn't hold my excitement. I started to chuckle softly and outloud. I didn't care how I looked in front of these walking livestock, they would all die and become nutrients eventually anyways.

Did I mention? The trailer restaurant that Lust, Gluttony, and I took over is on the outskirts of the town, but it's also where the train station is. Ha, looks like living for 400 years has its perks after all, I basically know the country like the back of my hand, almost.

As such, when I went far enough away from the busy parts of town, I changed back to my adorable form we all know and love. Eventually, I found the restaurant, and when I got to the door, the front door had a sign which read " **CONDEMNED.** "

"Condemned? That works for me." I said as I shapeshited my hand into a crowbar to bust open the locks on the door. I would've kicked down the damn thing, but I didn't want any brain-dead human to get the wrong idea and just walk right in without permission. They probably closed it down because they realized the shitty owner of the restaurant had died from a "strange event". Let's keep that a secret shall we?

The inside of the trailer still looked like how we had left it. Even though there was no one cooking, the trailer still had slight scents of various meats and alcohol. The walls were still gray and wooden with bits of its chipped off, giving the walls an old and worn-down feeling. The seats and the tables were left unchanged, yep, just like how I remember it.

I decided to situate myself in the abandoned trailer by, first, making a bed in one of the seats. I looked around and found some fresh towels, tablecloths, and some duct tape. I, then, crumpled all the pieces of cloth into a ball-like shape, taped the shape in place, put my beautiful creation on the edge of a seat by a window, and softly rested my head on the pillow. It was relaxing; though I prefer the bed at had at my masters place, it was refreshing to be away from that place. Homunculi like me don't really need sleep, but it's how I meditate, and it helps pass the time.

Even though I was calm and alone, something or things felt missing from the last time I was here, but I seem fine without. Damn my imagination, why would I have such a thought? Oh well, what matters now is to see the look on that pipsqueaks face when he boards off the station, I just know he'll come here, he's predictable for a human after all.

 **ED POV**

When I woke up from from my long slumber, it was dawn, which followed the new day that would come **shortly** after. I did the usual wake-up routine: brush teeth, rinse mouth, shower body, and put on new clothes. All the while, Alphonse and Pinako were nowhere to be seen around the house, how strange. I guess they had a morning errand to do, and seeing how Pinako is still working, as old as she is, Al probably decided to assist her in whatever.

I ate food that was leftover from yesterday's meal, which included half a serving of porridge and some steak, which I heated up with alchemy. The food still retained its wonderful taste, and heartwarming texture as I chewed and swallowed each bite. It reminded me of my mom's own cooking. It always felt nice coming to Resembool after a long trip knowing that they'll be a family to come back to.

I ate my meal slowly in the hopes of seeing if Al and Pinako would come back in time for my departure. After all, I didn't want to leave them without saying goodbye at least. And why hasn't Winry come back yet from wherever she was at? I started to worry for her sake, but then I thought, maybe Al and Pinako were looking for her as I ate.

Nevertheless, I finished my meal and packed up my things for the somewhat long trip to come. I waited a few minutes for any indication of their return, but no such thing occurred. I couldn't wait forever, so I decided to take my leave anyways. If anything, I would write a letter to them once I reach my destination of _Cement Town_ , they would understand my impatience.

From what I heard, Cement Town had a history of developing phony philosopher stones for wars, experiments, and perhaps, genocides. Hmph, I bet the homunculi had their parts in that. Anyway, the town's also known for being a home to miners and a large archive of books that could potentially have some info on the philosopher stone, if any. This might be my best lead.

I had on my usual clothing, braided my hair, held a suitcase for my belongings, and finally set out on my new journey. The dawn is always beautiful in Resembool, one of my all time favorite sights to see. The sun peeked through the mountains which gave the skies and clouds a bluish and pinkish tinge of color. The birds chirping replaced the silence of the scene, and the breeze was pleasant to the touch of my skin. The dew water droplets that formed on the tree leaves sparkled naturally as I walked on the dirt road to the train station.

Oh yes, this trip is looking to be life changing.

Already, I missed having Al around to talk to every now and then, but exploring on my own wasn't foreign to me, so I would get used to it. I just kept walking with a quietly while looking at the surrounding and familiar scenery until I reached the train station. Good thing I made it on time; my train arrives at 6:45am, and leaves 6:50am.

Once I made it there, I noticed two familiar figures; one pretty short figure(feels good to say that), and a taller and metallic-looking figure stood facing towards me.

"Alphonse! Pinako!" I shouted excitedly as I raced towards them before coming to a full stop in front of them.

"Hi brother, what took you so long?" Al asked politely.

"Uh, how was I supposed to know you two would wait for me here? I was a bit scared, but then I thought y'all would go look for Winry by now." I said sternly.

"Well, a little scare won't hurt anyone." Pinako said, chuckling at my reaction, damn her jeez.

"And Winry called saying that she met up with Sheska in the town she's at, so she's going to be over there longer than expected." Al said to reassure me.

"Whew . . . well I'm glad to hear that. I thought she got kidnapped or something." I said gleefully.

"And she also wished you luck on your journey brother, I filled her in on everything." Al said.

I blushed a bit at Winry's message, and I finally thanked Al for passing it along. By the time the conversation ended, my train came traversing along the tracks, finally stopping coming to a stop in front of us. Afterwards, the passenger door opened, revealing a happy driver waving his hand, and I waved back.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye, for now anyway." I said in a sadder tone.

"Don't worry about me brother, I'll be fine here at home, I'm more worried about you to be honest." Al said trying to cheer me up.

"Yeah, I'll try not to worry too much, and I promise not to get into too much trouble if I can avoid it." I responded back.

"Just make sure not to go overboard on the automail lad, I assume we won't be seeing you in a while." Pinako said in her cranky usual voice.

"Yeah I'll be careful. I feel as though this automail is of higher quality than the one before, so I'm confident in its condition." I said.

"Well I'm flattered, and make sure to drink your milk you prideful midget." Pinako said.

Al laughed expectedly, but I couldn't contain my eventual outburst.

"HOW BOUT YOU GET A TASTE OF YOUR OWN MEDICINE! LOOKS LIKE YOU COULD USE SOME YOU CRUSTY CATERPILLAR-SIZED HAG!" I yelled out loud at her.

Both Al and Pinako laughed at my outburst instead of feeling threatened by it, I guess it was for good ol times sake. Pinako and I always had back-and-forth arguments, but they were never usually taken seriously. I guess it's how I bonded with her. I couldn't help but smile at those two lovable bastards hehe.

"Alright, I should be off then, don't want to keep the driver waiting." I said as I embraced both Al and Pinako in a hug that lasted for a good ten seconds. It was a pleasant moment among us all.

"Goodbye Ed." Al and Pinako said in unison.

And finally, I walked onto the train and sat on the side that showed the two waving to me through the window. Naturally I waved back until the two were out of my view as the train moved faster and faster.

Now here I am, all by myself, going on a journey that will lead me to who knows where, or what. Part of me was anxious for the unknown, but the other part was excited for what I might learn out of this journey. I, however, decided to always keep my guard up for a particular shapeshifter, he could be lurking anywhere. Hell, Envy could very well be the train driver, but I'm not that paranoid. I feel like I'm getting better at figuring out whether its him or not, I guess it's instinct. But nonetheless, I remained calm for the duration of the train ride, taking in all the surrounding scenery, and just be awe-inspired by my own country. At the same time, I was also thinking about how to beat Envy should I ever encounter him on this trip, it was something pretty important to think about. It wouldn't be too much longer until I would arrive at Cement Town.

No regrets.

END OF CHAPTER 3


	4. Chapter 4 Intersection

CHAPTER FOUR: INTERSECTION

The cloudy skies still hung over _Cement Town_ ; in fact it started to rain, gloomy atmosphere. The rain was a steady drizzle, nothing too crazy. Most of the residents stayed inside their homes for the time being, it was like almost like a ghost town. It was amazing how the rain could alter the moods of even the most lively of folks.

Envy, awake by now, sat on a tree branch that overlooked the train station plus restaurant and wasn't covered very well from the rain. He, however, didn't mind the rain at all; he felt comfortable as the warm raindrops bounced and slid on his slik and pale skin. He stuck out his tongue, tasting the falling droplets as if they were a thirst-quenching gift from the heavens. His long green and elegant hair draped down over his face and body, giving him a more feminine appearance. Deep amethyst eyes that carried a fierce gleam scanned over the surrounding area for any signs of a train coming through.

He stayed in that position for a while, for as long as it took, to see that darn train finally come.

"Damn, what's taking so long? The train should've been here by now." Envy said, growing slightly impatient.

Shortly after, a loud, but not far off, sound came from a good distance away from where Envy had settled. Even in the rain, the sound was still clear, and Envy could automatically distinguish what made the sound.

"Well speaking of the devil, there it is, finally!" Envy shouted with excitement as if he had been revived from the dead.

"Well Pipsqueak, I'll be seeing you very shortly. I wonder what disguise I should put on now?" Envy purred and chuckled as he fell off his branch onto the ground with ease. Afterwards, he took on the form of the deceased chef envy, himself, stabbed. A devious grin developed on his face as he walked over to the train station.

"Lets see if you take the bait." Envy said returning to a more plain face so his cover wouldn't be blown.

Soon after, the train arrived in front of the restaurant just as planned, and Envy was ready to put his plan into motion. All he had to do was wait until Edward was in view for this to work.

Edward, looking out his window the last second before leaving the train, noticed a chubby looking man promoting some free food item. Edward was rather hungry after the long ride, he decided it shouldn't be too much of a bother to check out what the man was selling.

"Huh, that's weird, I thought the towns officials closed down the restaurant? And I could've sworn it was because the owner died or something. I guess he's got a twin brother, and now he owns the joint now I guess" The driver said to himself out loud.

Ed sort of heard what the driver said, and took that into consideration as a more serious look grew on his face.

After Ed thanked the driver for the service, he quickly made his way over to what the hubbub was all about.

When Envy saw that Ed was alone without Al, it didn't surprise him since it would've been pretty foolish of Ed to carry around a living philosopher's stone around town. But Envy had his methods of getting the coordinates out of the Pipsqueak.

"Why hello there **little** youngster, did you want to have a free sample of the _Funky Burger_!?" Chef Envy said enthusiastically.

Ed shot the man a glare, and took a deep breath as if promising himself not to go haywire on anyone who calls him small or any word of the sort. Envy, of course, took delight in making fun of Ed as he snickered to himself quietly without Ed noticing.

"Uh, sure why not. But I have some questions if you don't mind answering?" Ed asked politely.

"Yes, what is it?" Envy asked slightly annoyed yet impressed at Eds skepticism.

"I heard that this restaurant was condemned because the owner of the restaurant died from some unusual phenomena, and now I see the that it's open again, what's up with that?" Ed asked testing the legitimacy of this situation.

Envy had a feeling something like this would happen though, and came prepared with a somewhat believable explanation.

"Oh yes, you're right about that young one, the restaurant was closed down because my twin brother died of some 'strange event.' The official newspaper read that he died to a bear or some fearsome animal due to there being blood stains in the crime scene. Hell, his body was never recovered because of it." Envy said in a depressing and shaken up voice, at the same time looking to cry any moment now. Then he continued.

"You see boy, this is a family business; me and my brother always loved to cook ever since we were young, it made our family proud. And he said to me, 'Phil (Envy's fake identity), If I'm ever disabled to work, or even die, I want you to take over the business for your sake and mine.' And so, I did just that. I had to plead the town officials to open up the business again after the incident, but It certainly wasn't easy. I said for the restaurant to have barbed wire around it so that it would stop any dangerous animals from coming closer, and I wanted security cameras installed so that I could track any suspicious activity in the vicinity." Envy said with slightly more determination in his voice.

"I also promised to pay the officials $100 dollars a month to as tax, and they gladly accepted it, and after receiving a letter in the mail a week later, I finally got the business up and running again!" Envy finished in an uplifting tone.

"Well, I'm sorry for your loss, I know how that must feel in a way. And I'm happy to see your family business still lives on. Thats Equivalent Exchange for ya" Ed said smiling as if this whole story validates his own philosophies.

"Yeah, what you said." Envy said pretending to agree with Ed.

"But where's the barbed wired?" Ed asked, still somewhat suspicious of the story.

"There was a delay on the construction teams' part due to the stinkin weather we've been having lately; rain slows everything down it seems." Envy countered.

"And if you're wondering about the cameras, they'll be installed soon, but that type of technology isn't in mass production in the present time, it's still a relatively new technology, you know?" Envy stated as if to convince Ed to give him a break.

"But luckily, the officials said I could open my doors before any of that stuff takes place, so that's the story." Envy finished, hoping that convinced the seemingly oblivious Pipsqueak.

"Alright, I understand now." Ed said, looking a little more convinced. Envy smiled, feeling accomplished to have fooled Ed of the circumstances. Now comes the next step.

"Well let's get inside the building before we catch a cold." Envy said with haste.

"Lucky for you, you're the very first customer to come to the new and improved restaurant." Envy said looking back at his victim, I mean customer, with a slight smirk.

"Hmm, what a coincidence." Ed simply said as if not surprised by the realization.

"Oh, by the way, this restaurant has a name right? What's it called now?" Ed said.

"Uh, I decided to call it _**Phil's Diner**_." Envy said still trying to sound natural.

"Ok, cool." Ed said.

The inside looked somewhat lively. Envy had already lit up candles to give the place a moody touch. There was a small operational radio on the serving counter was playing some jazz music. The tables, walls, and other pieces of furniture looked surprisingly polished with barely any noticable dirt spots. The bottled drinks and beverages were lined up nicely behind the counter on individual rows of shelving. And the overhead fans(3 to be exact) spun normally, maintaining a cooler interior.

Ed was actually impressed that a place once deemed condemned could look so nice and polished. Looks like Envy was putting his shapeshifting abilities to good use, not that Ed would know about that.

As such, Ed took a seat by one of the windows just to watch the rain fall. That, combined with the jazzy radio and candle lighting, created a soothing atmoshpere.

"Thanks for the free service Mr. Phil, I could use it." Ed said with relaxed gratitude.

"No problem. Uh hey, you know, you look like the famous _FullMetal Alchemist_ I've been hearing about. Is that true?" Envy asked trying to initiate his second plan.

"Finally, someone who gets it right dammit." Ed muttered to himself.

"Yes I Am!" Ed exclaimed happily while giving a hand gesture.

"Oh, well I'll be! In that case, you deserve the best of the best young state alchemist!" Envy exclaimed trying to act surprised.

"Oh well, you don't have to go overboard, the meal's already free, but if you insist, I guess I can't turn that down." Ed admits with an embarrassing smile.

"Oh yes, I insist. Just relax and I'll have your burger ready shortly sir." Envy assures him.

With that, Envy proceeds to cook the so-called _Funky Burger._ In case anyone was wondering, the burger looks like your average large-sized burger, except there's an extra main ingredient that makes it unique from the other burgers on the menu. Ed, oblivious to the meal he was about to eat, kept staring peacefully outside with his elbow on the table and his hand holding up his head, looking bored. Occasionally, Ed would take sneak peeks at what Phil, aka Envy, was doing in the kitchen room that was stationed behind the bar desk area. The door to the kitchen room had a very slight opening, Ed could barely make out what was going on in there. He could hear Phils footsteps though, and as such, when Phils footsteps indicated exiting from the kitchen room to the main dining area, Ed quickly scurried back to his seat to look less suspicious.

"Are doing ok there son?" Envy asked while half his body was peeking out from the door to check on Ed.

"Yeah I'm fine, just waiting patiently." Ed said, slightly out of breath, but doing well not to show it.

"Alright, it won't be long now." Envy promised as he moved back into the cooking room, out of view from Eds sight.

Ed simply waited as he promised until the food was ready. When it was, Phil had brought out a nice tray of food, which consisted of french fries, hash browns, and the main burger. The whole meal made Ed admittedly drool a bit; the sight of the food, the fried aroma, the meal had it all. Phil took special care into making the food looking especially appetizing for his little state alchemist.

"Well, here you go, I hope you enjoy your meal sir." Envy said grinning happily, proud of his own cooking oddly enough.

"Thanks for the special meal, I really appreciate it." Ed said with a smile of gratitude as he sat up right to look over his meal.

Envy put the meal in front of Ed looking satisfied until he just remembered something to go along with the meal.

"Oh! I almost forgot. You need to drink something with your meal; uh, are you old enough to drink alcohol?" Envy asked.

"Do I look old enough to you big fella?" Ed said in an almost sarcastic tone.

"Yeah, good point, your small-ass body wouldn't handle it anyways." Envy stated laughing afterwards.

Ed bared his teeth, hands rolled up in fists, eyes wide with rage as he grunts over the what Phil had said.

"Hey man, don't take it personal…..not unless you wanna prove your a man before you hit puberty." Envy challenged while still giggling to himself over Eds reaction.

"Oh, you wanna bet huh? Fine! I'll accept your damn challenge!" Ed shouted with rage replaced with bravery in his golden eyes.

"Hahahahaha, they grow up so fast, in certain areas anyway." Envy said as he walked over to the bar stand to grab a beer bottle off a shelf. He then went to the kitchen area to quickly grab a glass to pour the liquid in. At that moment, Ed performed an alchemic action on the food by triggering a transmutation circle that he carved under the table which he sat at. The alchemical process was fast, barely audible, and produced little to no light this time. When Envy came back to the dining area in quick time, it was as if nothing happened. Still keeping to the chef role, Envy walks over to hand Ed some good ol alcohol (A/N Please don't do this kids under 21).

"Well here ya are Mr. GrownUp." Envy said with a smirk.

"Thanks, I'll keep it as a souvenir." Ed said only to be met with a confused and rather dissatisfied look from Envy.

"Oh, looks like someone is a sissy-boy, but that's what I would expect from a little boy." Envy said.

"Fuck off!" Ed thought, only to really say "Yeah yeah whatever pops."

Envy giggled quietly at the mention of the word pops, how he could only imagined what it would be like the have the beloved pipsqueak as his son, or something like that.

Moments after the short conversation, the food that Ed transmuted beforehand started to ooze a sort of dark-reddish liquid. Eds turned his attention towards the food for further inspection and noticed said liquid. A quizzical look came about on Eds face as he lacks any recollection of such a substance. Then Ed grew a displeased and suspectful face as he grew all the more suspicious of this Phil guy and the overall circumstances of the restaurant. But still, he played along and pretended like nothing was wrong, to keep the "peace."

Envy seemed to have taken notice of Edwards displeasure body language, and started to grow a bit impatient. "What's the matter, have you lost your appetite too?" Envy wondered, but he had a feeling that FullMetal was catching on.

"Hmm, I guess you could say that." Ed said as he looked back at Envy with curious yet fierce eyes.

At this point, Edward knew that something was horribly wrong with this entire situation, and Envy knew that he couldn't keep up this act.

"Damn pops, I didn't know you cooked with blood in your food, or something like that." Ed said, irritated and convinced that this is no ordinary chef. At the same time, he lifted the tray of food with one hand to prove his point.

"If this liquid was grease or sauce, it wouldn't have this type of color naturally. Now what the hell is this?!" Ed yelled, offended that a seemingly regular person would do this sort of thing, not unless….

Envy simply sighed and shrugged with a smirkish grin on his.

"I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to fool you of all people." He said as a reverted back to his prefered form with a black apron covering most of the front side of his slender figure. The apron seems to have a cartoonish image of a big red X over Eds face. His green hair, slightly darker due to the lighting, flowed graciously down his figure, and his pale skin made him look ghostly.

Ed looked slightly surprised at the revelation, but after considering the given circumstances, he gave Envy a serious expression as he transmuted his signature automail blade and got into his battle stance.

"Envy!..." Ed said in a deep and venomous tone he was not looking forward to this.

Envy slanted his upper body forward to rest both of his arms on the counter table and his left leg over his right in a criss-cross fashion. He looked rather relaxed actually as his purple eyes sparkled with innocence as they gazed over on Eds flustered face. He smiled, as if seeing the Pipsqueak brought out this tucked-away emotion of actual happiness, it was eerie. The orange lighting coming from the scattered candles only added to the newly ominous atmosphere that was brewing. The jazzy music still playing from the radio suggested an odd yet slightly romantic setting of affairs. Ed only wondered what Envy was thinking, why does he appear so calm, and why lure him to a place like this.

The tension in the room remained the same, hostile, yet confusing, but that was until Envy simply replied with, "Welcome to the party Pipsqueak, what's my special guest upset with now?"

Ed stood his ground, still in his combat posture, ready to strike Envy at any moment.

The two kept their positions for a few more moments, but it felt like an eternity for Ed.

CHAPTER 4 DONE


	5. Chapter 5 The Calm Before the Storm

CHAPTER 5 THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

"Cut the crap! You know exactly why I'm upset!" Ed shouted to break the tension.

"Why, was it the Pipsqueak part I said?" Envy said tilting his head to the side amusingly.

"NO IT WAS...well, yeah that too, but I'm really upset about encountering you of all abominations so early on my journey." Ed remarked.

"Tough luck my friend, and what's this 'journey' about, huh?" Envy asked, slightly curious of Eds plans.

"My asshole. It's none of your business Envy." Ed said somewhat sarcastically.

"Keeping secrets are we? Well that's ok, I'll squeeze them out of you somehow. I'm impressed, how did you know it was yours truly?" Envy asked in a tone that sounded slightly seductive.

"Well, my doubts all started when I heard this place was condemned because the owner died from some 'strange' occurrence, which I can assume you homunculi were apart of his death, weren't you?" Ed asked sounding irritated.

Envy chuckled in response. "Good guess, Mr. Prodigy."

"Of course, and then to say that this place got opened again about a week later made slightly no sense to me, it seemed too convenient that the officials of this town would allow someone to open up this joint again after it was closed on such short notice. The twin brother act did fool me a bit, I'll give you that, but that didn't stop my suspicions. The location of this restaurant also played at your favor since you could easily inspect the passengers that would come off the train station here, to see if any of them were me. Clever if you ask me." Ed stated

"Oh, why thank you for the compliment, it's the nicest thing you've ever said about me." Envy said taking delight in that last comment of Eds despite having been exposed so thoroughly.

Ed grunted, as if bothered by how Envy interpreted his comment on cleverness. "Not to mention, this town also has a library on stones, so I figured you would wait for me in a place like this. And I also found it very odd that I just so happened to be the first customer to come to this dump after its supposed re-establishment. You could've lied and said you had previous customers, but instead, you said something as suspicious and coincidental as that. "

"A 'dump?' How harsh, I took special care into making this place look so presentable for you. I thought your parents taught you better manners, but considering you're the son of that bastard, I guess I shouldn't be surprised." Envy said looking more a bit more serious.

Ed was reminded of Lab 5 at the mention of 'That Bastard!', but nevertheless, he continued his analysis. "And the _Funky Burger_? Oh yeah it's funky alright, it has Envy written all over it. I took sneak peeks at your working area, and to me, it looked like a damn chemistry lab. The meal took longer than I thought to wait for because you were taking your time experimenting with different chemicals for whatever purpose, I don't know what, but it couldn't have been good. You should've known I would use alchemy to release any unusual substances out of the food out of doubt. And one thing, no one in their right mind would give underage kids any form of alcohol, no matter how brave or arrogant they may seem because it's illegal, period. I tested you, and you fell for the bait." Ed finished with his analysis with an accomplished smirk on his face.

Envy played with one of his hair strands, putting on a menacing smirk. "Wow Ed, who knew you were the perfect little detective. I'm honestly impressed you picked up the hints, very nice indeed."

"Tell me, what would've happened if I had eaten any of the food? Was it poison?" Ed asked, taking the moment to relieve himself of his ignorance.

"You mentioned something about blood in the food, but its only some nyquil medicine I picked up from a cabinet. My plan was to make you grow drowsy and eventually fall asleep, then I would scoop you up, tie you up, and torture the life out of you until you spilled the beans on where your damn brother is." Envy declared happily.

"I figured as much, but why go about it in such a manner? You could've just stalked me around town and abduct me, so what's going on?" Ed asked.

"Hmm, you seem to take such pride in your detective quirks, you think you have me all figured out huh? But how do you know I didn't deliberately do all of this just so you would eventually figure it all out?" Envy proposed. Ed actually looked rather shocked at the question. Was it him who was being played instead?

"You see Ed, I know you more than you might think. I know that you're able to pick up on suspicious behaviors and circumstances that would lead to trouble. After all, you've always cared about your tin can of a brother, it doesn't surprise me that you would lack mutual trust in most other people." Envy stated knowing that what he said was true.

"Hmph, fairpoint." Ed admitted.

"And about the abduction thing, well that's simple to answer. It's because we're alone, and that no one would see anything here nor would they want to walk in. In case you hadn't noticed, I left a condemned sign on the front of the entrance door, but you wouldn't have seen it because I left the door to the restaurant intentionally open at a certain angle before you first entered so that you wouldn't notice. " Envy said.

"But I don't get it, your a shapeshifter, which mean you could've easily taken me out when I wasn't looking when I walked into this area, why wait till now when it's obvious what's going on!" Ed demanded.

Even Envy wasn't sure why he didn't apprehend while he had the chance. He thought about the question for a few more moments only to respond with, "I'm not sure, to be honest with you." As Envy said that, he tilted his head down to the side. Ed seemed rather confused by the gesture. "If I had to answer, I find you quite entertaining." Envy admitted with a grim smirk. Ed couldn't believe what he just heard, his face was dumbfounded. Because Envy finds him entertaining? There was a very faint tinge of pinkish orange that appeared on Eds checks; he didn't know if Envy meant that in a positive light, or something of a more malicious context.

Envy turned up the music slowly and gradually, the jazzy vibes just kept getting louder and louder. The once soothing tunes turned into loud and obnoxious notes that would make Eds eardrums explode if exposed any longer. Envy didn't seem to mind, guess because he's an homunculus, he can handle the sound. Ed covered his ears with both his hands the best he could to block out the loudness of the room. Envy seemed like he knew the song fairly well as he turned up the radio to its max volume setting when a saxophone part initiated. Damn, the sax was piercing through Ed like someone was stabbing his auditory innerworkings from the inside. His teeth clenched and his eyes were shut, he yelled "TURN DOWN THE DAMN MUSIC!" Despite all the noise, Envy could tell that Ed was extremely irritated with the sounds that were vibrating the whole establishment. Envy showed some mercy by turning down the music to a comfortable volume, thank goodness Ed thought. Luckily, the ringing went away few moments after the volume decreased, Ed could still hear just fine again.

"Ooo, sorry about that, my hand slipped on the volume knob a little bit." Envy shrugged laughing.

"Oh, you're such a bastard, damn you and your jazz genre!" Ed shouted aggressively, he could hear his ears ring a bit.

"Well as they say, what doesn't kill ya makes you stronger and taller, I did you a favor really." Envy said mockingly.

"Yeah well damn you and your idea of favors!" Ed screamed with anger as he proceeded to clap his hands together.

"Oh getting right down to business, are we? Don't take me for a fool, I know you can use your pesky alchemy to do all sorts of things. But that doesn't mean I'll let you go so easily, obviously." Envy stated as he quickly shapeshifted his right arm into a long rope with a tied loophole at the end over Eds head to wrap around his neck. Once around his neck, the loophole grew ever more tighter. Ed choked harshly as he was being dragged along the gray floor to where Envy was standing. Envy took delight in watching the poor boy slide in his misery. With quick-thinking, Ed used his automail blade to cut the rope, causing Envy to revert his arm back to normal. Ed breathed heavily as he massaged his neck to ease the pain a little, but it barely worked. Laying on the floor, vulnerable, Envy took the opportunity to reach over and grab Ed by the braid, only to be stabbed through the hand by the metal blade.

With that, Envys hand slowly regenerated back to normal, but Ed was already transmuting a stone pillar, which was slanted at an angle to knock the exit door wide open. Ed quickly got up to make a break for the opening, only to be stopped by Envy who jumped in front of him.

"Is my pray leaving so soon?" Envy questioned with an amused look on his face.

"Damn! So fast!" Ed commented.

The two had a little physical confrontation. Ed took quick swipes at Envys body hoping to land a decisive blow that would leave Envy rendered temporarily down. To Eds luck, however, the homunculus had quick reflexes, dodging Eds attacks with ease. Eventually, Envy backflipped from an incoming kick from Ed, then kicked him back to the counter table. Envy walked over to check on Ed, towering over the seemingly weak alchemist.

"Too slow, Pipsqueak." Envy stated with both hands on his hips, staring down at him with dominance.

Ed chuckled, "Don't get so cocky with me, I'm just warming up." Ed countered as he clapped his hands in the blink of an eye, then placing both of them down. Large pointed stone pillars protruded from the ground, although, they didn't quite hit their mark as Envy barely dodged the attacks in time. The stones pillars, however, were being protruded in such a way that caused Envy to back off into a far corner of the restaurant, giving Ed the opening he needed to escape. Envy, then, formed his right arm into a big wooden bow, and picked off a strand of his hair, which formed into an arrow. He quickly shot the arrow at Eds thigh region, but missed his body by a margin, only slicing a piece of his red cloak off.

"Hmm, not bad at all shrimp, you got away . . . for now." Envy declared. He erased the candles of their flames with a quick lash of his right hand that was now an asian-styled fan. Afterwards, turning off the radio, he then transformed into a bloodhound with black fur and a lean body, suitable for speedy hunts. The now 4-legged creature walked over to where the scrapped piece of red cloth had settled. Envy took in the scent of the clothing by sniffing for a good 10 seconds, really taking in Eds aroma.

"Yup, that's the shrimps scent alright." Envy thought, a bit embarrassed, yet amused and annoyed that it had come to hunting him down like this.

"Well Edward, you may have escaped for now, but my hate is everlasting, it's what kept me living for this long. I will find you no matter where you might run off to." Envy promised himself as he closed the door with his head, ran out in the rain, and followed wherever the scent would lead him. The once lively restaurant is now abandoned in complete darkness, just as Envy had first found it, only to leave again in the same fashion.

On the other hand, Ed had taken off into the _Concordia Jungle_ hoping that he would lose Envy amidst the thick lushness of the trees. There's a man made pathway that was nothing more but open dirt road that probably lead to a mining camp or something. He also ran there just in case he would have to battle Envy again; he doesn't want to put the townspeople in danger if he can help it. Luckily, the rain still kept falling, which worked somewhat to Eds advantage as that would erase some of his scent but not all. Ed kept running, clenching the spot where Envy kicked him while also carrying his suitcase on the other hand; his breathing was heavy, the rain made his vision blurry, he didn't know where he was going per say, but that didn't matter much. He turned his head, looking back to see if Envy was there, but there was nothing. Fear and desperation crept into Eds mind as he was a running target that was no match for his predator. If only he had Envy's remains, he would stand a better chance against him, but who knew where those were? Certainly not Ed.

'Damn, of all the homunculi to run into, it had to be Envy. Boy, it makes me _envy_ normal people who don't have to worry about a miniskirted-sociopath chasing them around town.' Ed thought to himself.

All the while, Ed had been wondering what made Envy, 'Envy?' Why had faith chosen today of all days to confront such a powerful being? What were Envy's true intentions? Why hadn't he killed him when he had multiple chances? And most importantly, was he, himself, going to make it out of this plight alive to see his beloved brother? All these thoughts and questions raced through Eds mind like the locomotive, his thoughts were unfocused, all he could think of was survival. Should Ed survive this, he'll live, but Envy will still live as well, eternally taunting and haunting the vulnerable alchemist until possibly his dying days. This is one homunculus Edward couldn't understand, couldn't match up to, couldn't kill. Its because Envy was different, a creature who knows no bounds, yet is bounded by hatred; a creature that lives off the screams and miseries of mankind, caring not for the positive qualities of humanity it so despises. And yet, it conceals its secrets and insecurities so well, even its weaknesses; a seemingly invincible unbending predator that takes pleasure in sadism.

After running for about a good mile or so, Ed came across a split road. Both paths looked the same from what he was seeing, and eventually took the path to the right. It seemed like the paths were getting narrower as the trees and canopies were blocking out the gloomy gray skies with widespread leaves. The jungle noises were suppressed because of the rain, which turned up a notch as millions of long wet sprinkles filled the air. All Ed could do was run, enter survival mode, follow his instincts; It felt like he was in a horror show, and he was the damsel in distress. Breath in, breath out, following that aerobic pattern would last him until he found safety, Ed thought to himself.

Occasionally, Ed would look behind him in every possible direction to make sure you-know-who wasn't behind him while stilling running a decent pace. Every branch snap, rustle of the leaves, animalistic noises, and anything of the sort made Eds mind go crazy. Any noise produced in the wild could've been Envy moving in the shadows. Maybe it was another way Envy was crawling under Eds drenched skin. He couldn't afford to be distracted, he had to find safety first.

After the toilsome and adrenaline-inducing run from danger, Ed finally came to a small clearing. It looked like a campsite that miners would take refuge at to sleep restore their energy to continue working the nexday. From Ed's perspective, however, the site looked abandoned from the outside. There were two tents built next to each other on a small rocky plateau to the left, and three more that rested on some patches of grass on the right. There were also premade campfire spots that settled in front of the tents, but according the nature, that fire will have to wait. By the far back of the clearing rested piles of mined-up ores, rocks, and minerals from previous expeditions. Ed could pick out each material based on his past alchemic research: cooper, bauxite, iron, and coal.

Ed felt somewhat relieved that he found some shelter as he imagined turning back for town was a bad idea. With one last look around to check for Envy's presence, Ed first instivagated the lower level tents on the grassy patches quickly. Each tent housed no one and nothing except some rugs and pillows. With those items, he could easily make a bed for himself. He then checked the tents on the plateau for anymore items. These tents followed the same pattern except one farthest to the right, which had what looks to be a family photo. Ed walked closer to pick up the unusual object.

'It seems like whatever group of people camped out here, they've made this place their home. Hehe, well isn't this deja-vu?' Ed thought, chuckling as reminder of Al and Yoki Island.

Ed quickly put the photo down and peeked out of the tent to check once more. The coast was clear, for now.

'If I'm the prey and he's the predator, then he's got another thing coming, that bastard.' Ed grinned, getting ready to use his thinking caps.

'And the best part is, no naked jungle boy to preach about taking my body(aka Wrath), ok that sounds wrong.' Ed thought, feeling disgusted at the thought.

A second later, loud rumbles of thunder could be heard from the distance like the supposed God was beating on his drums. The rain continued to drizzle, but the wind started to pick up, bringing a chill in the air. A storm was coming.

Ed stepped outside the tent and into the coming storm. The rain fell repeatedly on his body, drenching him with millions of drops; the wind blew at his clothes and hair aimlessly, ruining the clean and bold presence that Ed carried; The thunder slowly rolled in like an ominous omen, as if the God above wanted to make his presence, his existence, known to the faithless Elric. As Ed walked over the piles of mined-up materials and ores, he said to himself "I can work with this."

END OF CHAPTER 5


	6. Chapter 6 When Strategy Strikes

CHAPTER 6 WHEN STRATEGY STRIKES

'I sure hope the miners don't mind me _**borrowing**_ their findings, I'll be sure to put it all back . . . maybe.' Ed promised himself.

"With the storm picking up, I might have a shot as this, but I have to make it count." Ed reminded himself, preparing for what's to come.

With that, the young blonde alchemist experimented with his alchemy and practical skills, working on a formula that could save his life.

Envy, still in his dog form, scampered on the path that Ed ran, and guided by the shoeprints the fearful alchemist left behind mistakenly. The dog of the military being chased by an actual dog that craves bloodshed, what an ironic twist of faith. The rain smoothed out Envy's black fur, giving it a silverish polish, it cleased his body, his mind, but not his path.

The dampened shoe prints maintained their directional pattern to the point where smelling Eds blood in the dog form became pointless. The once long-eared bloodhound transformed into a miniature crow with purple marbled eyes and dark green feathers. The newly formed creature raced through the path, airborne, still looking out for the footprints, making sure the clever Pipsqueak ran a straight path all the way through.

He could feel the wind gracefully graze through his feathers, his entire being. The rain made flight slightly difficult, but it proved unable to slow down the green bird. It was freedom, he felt free, or at least he should. For someone who appears so free, strong-willed, and driven by hatred, why wasn't he free? Why should he feel attached to his ' _ **master'**_ when he's seemingly superior. He's a homunculus; Dante's only human after all. A homunculus that hates humans out of jealousy, yet is ruled by one, a despicable one at that.

It wouldn't be too much longer before the keen-eyed crow arrived at his destination, although, the plan was to plot an ambush. His heart raced with excitement as he flew closer and closer to wherever the alchemist was hiding. It meant that his quest for vengeance would come to a close pretty soon should he succeed. Taunt the shortie, threaten him and the younger brother, torture him, make him spill the beans, then end him. Pretty straightforward that'll be difficult in execution. Ultimately, it came down to finding out for himself whether _that_ _bastard_ still lived above all else.

'Hohenheim of Light! He can't be dead! I refuse to believe that he would die so easily! Master, that hag must've been lied to me, damn her. . .' Envy thought to himself as to reassure that his tireless quest wasn't for nothing.

The skies took on a darker shade of gray as the blanketing sheets of stratus clouds gradually got replaced by ominous-looking cumulonimbus clouds. It was only the afternoon, and though the sun was naturally concealed by the towering clouds above, it still provided some patches of light.

Edward had already prepared his plan to counter Envy's coming assault as best he can. The middle region of the site was littered with sharp jagged spikes that were hidden beneath the mushy ground. Along with that trap, metallic rods, with a sharpen edge on one end and a hole with tied wire on the other, were stationed neatly underneath each tent and the middle region. The wires, themselves, were attached to the top of the tent farthest from the entrance on the rocky plateau, all of which were alchemically dug and planted to their respective positions from that spot. The wires there were evenly spaced out, labeled for whichever tent, and parallel to each other.

'Alright, this will have to do. It won't kill him, but it'll slow him down, should it work. But even then, he'll never stop chasing me. Crap. . .' Ed realized. He knew there was a high chance that he would die even if he did pull off this seemingly fruitless attempt to restrain Envy, like that would ever happen. The thought frightened him, he was all alone, no one to back him up, getting ready to confront arguably the most lethal of all the homunculi. Ed, however, has taken the lives of two other homunculi thus far, shouldn't it be fair that his own life gets taken from one as well? Equivalent Exchange, a life for a life, what a cruel joke.

The approaching storm continued to thunder and rain, intimidating the mortals that resided below it. Luckily for Ed, the tents provided decent shelter from nature's wrath. All he had to do was wait and watch out for the deceptive Envy before putting his plan into action. It felt like he was playing a game of hide-and-go-seek, hardcore version. He simply rested inside the tent closest to the entrance on the grass. He took off his signature red cloak, revealing a rain-stained black tank-top. The less weight on his body, the better.

'Wait a minute! . . . Yeah that could work as well!' Ed thought to himself as he just came up with a brilliant idea.

The excited alchemist rested his red jacket on top of a pillow, then rested that pillow perpendicular to another one. He then trasmusted a bobble-head like version of his own head with wide eyes, the hair antenna, a stuck-out tongue, and a spike at where the neck would be. He jammed the spike into the pillow, and turned the head to the side to make the dummy appear sleepy. He rested the dummy head onto the other pillow, and covered the _body_ with a blanket. The metal rod that was planted in the ground was then jabbed into the head straight up, but deep enough to still make the rod hidden overall.

'It's not my best work, but it'll have to suffice.' Ed admitted as headed to the opening of the tent.

Like before, he would occasionally peek outside for any disturbances. Heart racing, ears alert, the time was coming. At the last minute, he scurried onto the rocky plateau and into the tent farthest away from the clearings entrance. From there, he had an outlook on the area, and the eyes for his trap, panting out of fear and desperation. With one final look, he closed his tent and observed the wires that were aligned nicely in the triangularly elongated frame of the tent. One last thunder clapped cemented his fate, this was it.

In due time, Envy had arrived at the entrance of the clearing. The rapid fluttering of his wings kept him airborne, hovering above the ground as he came to a complete stop. From then on, he flew onto a nearby tree branch that gave him a vantage point of the area; he then proceeded to transform into a snake and slithered slowly and carefully on the tree to the ground.

His skin was plain brown, blending in with the moist dirt below his slender scaly body. His snake-like tongue, dark red in color, jutted swiftly out of his mouth, sniffing out for the hidden Elric.

'Hisss, I wonder if he continued to run off like the coward he is, or settled here in this cozy looking area. And if he did settle here, it's likely that brat has something ready for me.' Envy wondered to himself.

As the snake moved closer to the site, he stopped suddenly. 'Oh my, this campsite wrecks of the pipsqueak's scent. Oh yes, he's definitely here, be where exactly is he hiding?' Envy questioned as he took his time slithering, watching out for any sudden movements that indicate that something was there. He slithered especially close to the base of the rocky plateau keep his cover, planning to investigate the set of tents that stood motionless on the grass. He noticed that each entrance to the tents were zipped up, sealed from outside eyes.

'Taking me for a fool? I see.' Envy chuckled quietly as he transformed into an oddly small and adorable mole with dark green fur, a simply straight nose, and fan-like claws, perfect for digging . . . and assassinating. As such, Envy tried his luck by digging a hole to the first tent closest to the entrance. He dug at an angle that didn't shake the wire that was attached there, Ed would've noticed. When Envy finally finished digging, he saw the that the interior of the tent laid empty, no one in sight.

'Huh, alright then' Envy simply said as if not surprised from the realization. From there, he dug to the next tent from his current position. And still, Envy hadn't taken any notice to the wiring, everything seemed normal to him so far. The result was more or less the same; nothing was there, except for some pillows and blankets.

'Well aren't you the lucky one Ed' Envy said to himself quietly, getting slightly irritated of this guessing game.

The last tent, which had the trap, carried a strong scent of the blonde alchemist, yet it seemed too apparent to Envy's nose. When he popped out of his hole, quicker than the last two, he noticed a sleepy alchemist on the floor, or so it seemed. The moment Envy caught sight of the _Ed,_ he froze in his tracks and grinned sheepishly.

'Wow, well how about that. Does this boy really take me this lightly?" Envy thought to himself, he felt as though he could laugh to death; however, he kept his composure, placing a hand over his grinning mouth as he slowly transformed into a more childlike version of his preferred form to compensate for the averaged sized tent. Just like before, Envy transformed his left arm into a bow, and takes a strand of his own hair, which turns into a bow. He charges up the elasticity of the bow, ready to shoot, and this time, it'll land a serious blow.

'Well pipsqueak, time to rise and shine. This won't kill you, but it'll hurt. . . although?' Envy thought to himself as he directed his trajectory to what would be Eds butt. What an asshole. Finally, he released the shot, hitting his mark as expected, but to his surprise, no reaction from the alchemist.

"Damn, I had a feeling it was a fake." Envy said silently to himself.

A few moments later, Envy had a long cut in the cheek from an unseen metallic spike that pierced through the thin and delicate fabric of the situated tent.

'Almost!' Ed thought to himself, still observing the wires inside the tent, using the vibrations as guidelines for his accuracy as well as the sound each rod makes when an impact is made.

Envy, still shaken up from the object, tries to react fast enough by cutting a hole in the tent to make a swift escape only to be impaled in the abdominal area this time. Envy grunted at the impact, used to the pain sharpened weapons brung. Blood started to drip down on his figure.

'Jackpot!' Ed exclaimed excitedly to himself as he saw the unusual motions of the wire that made contact, thus confirming his judgment as well as the distinct fleshy sound.

Just like that, another rod was sent to Envy's way in the blink of an eye. Though Envy could still move, the rod situated in his body compromised his balance, which lead to another rod piercing through his chest. Envy had no other choice but to take it, teeth clenched, preventing himself from making any noises that would indicate being in pain, vulnerability.

Lastly, two more rods shot from the right and left directions; one rod sliced part of his stomach while the other one pierced his left leg. With quick slashes to the tent, openings were made, allowing Edward to finish what he started. Meanwhile, thunder continued to roar, and the lightning flashed within the clouds, blue in color, brightening the skies.

"Three out of five, good enough!" Ed confirms to himself as he jumps into the outside view.

With one clap, Ed stabilized the tent stakes with hardened mud and rocky Earth. The next clap protruded a large earthy pillar below Envy's body, who was wrapped in the tent, pushing him up towards the sky at a swift pace, so fast that a couple of the wire strings snapped from the accelerated pressure. The tent by Ed could barely hold, tilted in such an awkward position, half of it inside-out, and some strings broken off. The pillar stood around 60 ft - 70 ft in height, so high it looked like it could punched through the barrier of thunderclouds above, at least from Ed's view.

"Well Rose, if there is a God after all . . . I want to see it for myself, right here!" Edward declared as he shouted at the skies, as though he were tempting the heavens themselves.

Such an intense sequence of events came to an awkward stop. The lightning sparked with blue flashes of light, circulating within the clouds, but to Ed's panic, no strike. Envy, on the other hand, felt pretty uncomfortable having been impaled multiple times, wrapped in the tent like a mummy, and suddenly raised up to high elevations, the homunculus had to recover his composure. With his head sticking out, Envy could see where he was stationed; his head laid on the ground, staring directly into the darkened clouds that looked ready to explode, yet he still kept the same smirkish expression on his face. Ed pretty looked disappointed, his plan seemed like a complete failure, there is no God, only those who play God. And still, the thunder clapped loudly near the two, the rain poured with more force, and the winds shook the trees violently. The storm came to a climax.

With an amused look on his face, Envy started to break himself free from the clutter he was in.

"Nice strategy Edward Elric, but too bad for you, it's fut-" A large pillar of light encompassed Envy's body before he could finish his sentence. The brightness of the strike vaporized his vision, the world looked pure white for a second. His body felt scorched, his insides were as hot as the sun, a mixture of electrical scars and burns, simultaneous, quick on impact, severe pain. Now the skin was black as charcoal, veins were glowing blue, absorbing the light, the pain for one last time. The strike was so quick, almost lightspeed, there was no time to breath, no time to scream, the strike lasted for a split second, the pain was immediate and felt eternal. The moment was unexpected, sheer in presentation, yet rapid in execution, the top of the pillar enveloped in massive blue light . . .

CCCCCCCCRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH ! ! !

The alchemically-structured tower, slim in appearance, shattered into multiple fragments that fell back onto Earth's crust. The misplaced rods only joined the rubble, bound by the law of gravity. The conductive wires transferred the hot blue discharges into the tent, setting the thing ablaze as fast as a snap. The shelter no longer remained, sent to death in mere seconds, quicker than the real home. The shockwave scattered fierce tempest and electromagnetism across the campsite, the jungle, possibly the whole country. A single blink meant missing out on the once-and-a-lifetime lightshow that God had displayed.

And Ed, the mastermind, stood his ground by the newly born ashes, hardly fazed, only determined. A truth of many truths.

END OF CHAPTER 6


	7. Chapter 7 Reward and Punishment

CHAPTER 7 REWARD AND PUNISHMENT

The rumble had settled hazardously on the ground, leaving the campsite in a ruined fashion. The air felt heavy and hot, electrified even. All the same, the winds raced along the rocky and grayish landscape without a care, and the rains continued their onslaught of flooding the Earth, nothings changed . . . but the prior shockwave finally lessened in intensity, returning the field back to normal.

Ed simply stood his ground, looking over the grand alchemic 'experiment' he took part in making. The boy, though proud of his efforts, still looked at the remaining rubble with hesitation; his faced sweated as the rain fell, his eyes had constructed pupils, his teeth clenched at the thought of Envy waking from the stony burial.

'I got him, the plan worked out almost perfectly, and yet, I still have this immense doubt in my heart! Damn it. It doesn't matter how hard I hit him, he'll just keep coming back.' Ed thought to himself, feeling almost helpless.

'I'll have no other choice but to go with _that_ plan, but there may only be a 1% chance that it'll work, but it could work.' Ed thought to himself, feeling restricted with his options on stopping the homunculus as best he could.

Just as Ed was about to press both his hands together, a fast-moving harpoon-like object shot from where the rubble stood motionless. The incoming attack slashed part of Eds right cheek, leaving a small red scar of dripping blood to follow. Ed was taken by surprise, a look of astonishment covered his usual face.

'He was able to recover that fast from lightning!?' Ed thought to himself, shocked at how little effect his light show had on the newly reborn homunculus.

Not long after, the rubble started to shift from underneath, something was emerging from below, and it was none other than Envy. The homunculus still looked scorched, skin charred as black as obsidian, and his hair has taken a darker shade in green as it coursed naturally over his body. His black clothes still covered his private areas, though the already blackened skin tone makes him look almost naked. As he looked at Edward, Envy wore a devious and wide grin on his face; with purple eyes that contracted Red Eye _,_ and white beast-like teeth, the homunculus looked all the more intimidating, practically possessed by the lightning strike, ready to do nature's bidding by wiping out the toxicity that is humanity.

Ed couldn't help but freeze at such a face, once again reminded of how inhumane the homunculi really are. Just in awe. It was just like before with _Barry The Chopper;_ nowhere to go, nowhere else to hide, and no way to fight back without getting killed in one fell swoop.

'No! Why I'm I getting so scared?! Of all the times to get shaken up by the enemy, now's not the time! Get it together Ed!' Ed thought to himself, wanting to snap out of this sort of hypnotic trance he found himself in, but was unsuccessful; all he could do was look and gaze over his enemy, his executioner.

"Trying to resurrect the dead again Ed? For shame, I guess you of all people will never learn your lesson." Envy stated as he returned to his playful and sarcastic demeanor with his face relaxed and all.

Ed finally broke out of his trance as his face returned to a more serious-looking one. "Funny, I didn't know a zombie, like you, knew about that story, but I guess it takes a monster to know one." Ed fired back, smirking a bit.

Envy simply laughed out loud. "Jeez, that was uncalled for Pipsqueak." Envy said as he placed both hands on his hips.

"And who do you think is responsible for creating the monster in the first place?" Envy asked, challenging Ed's flawed logic. Ed lost his smirk.

"Because if you ask me, that's the true monster right THERE!" Envy almost shouted as he gradually raised his voice while simultaneously shooting a single bullet at Ed. The state alchemist always kept his guard up, so deflecting the bullet with his automail was no problem.

Ed looked a bit shaken up from Envy's words, but he understood the meaning all too well; he couldn't counter that argument, how could he?

"Oh well, what's an inhuman entity, or even human, to you lowlifes anyway? Huh, just something for you to exploit and leave behind without regard for its life or motives, for your own selfishness and personal desires? I see it time and time again." Envy stated as he looked downwards and slowly walked towards Edward. As a natural response, Ed kept up his guard for any attacks.

"What exactly are you talking about? Look, is that what you really think Envy, because not all humans are possessed by excessive greed you know?" Ed countered, feeling slightly offended by Envy's proposition.

Envy only chuckled at him. "Yeah, sure. You know, I kinda like this coloring on my skin at the moment." Envy said as he examined his dark flesh with his fingers. "It probably brings back many painful memories of your little bring-back mommy experiment, doesn't it?" Envy said as he transformed into a very grotesque version of Sloth that resembled how she looked before consuming the Philosopher's Stones. Ed couldn't believe his eyes, and an untamed anger vibrated his body, his instincts.

"YOU BASTARD!" Ed shouted aggressively, as he ran straight for Envy with his automail blade at hand. Envy quickly reverted back to his preferred form, and blocked Ed's strike with a rock-hard arm.

"Oh my, I'm sorry, did I hit a nerve there, Pipsqueak?" Envy asked as he grinned with sadistic pleasure.

Afterwards, Ed continued to lash out at Envy by trying to pierce his head/neck area with frontal stab attacks and even horizontal slash attacks. The still blackened homunculus managed to dodge his attacks and even blocked some of the strikes. Miniature sparks were flying with each clash. After a few more exchanges, the two paused with a clash, with Ed trying his hardest to overcome the powerful Envy.

"You know, has anyone ever told that your true abilities lie in pissing people off?" Ed asked venomously, ready to cut Envy down with fiery golden eyes.

Envy closed his eyes, smiling. "Hmm", then opened them back up, "well I have been called a _Jackass_ many times before _."_

Just as Envy answered Ed's question, he lunged his right leg forward, attempting to kick Ed into the ground. Ed leaned back in time to dodge, but Envy continued his bodily motions as he switched to a Flare breakdance, landing a fast fleshy hit on Ed's cheek. Ed spun onto the ground, but used the momentum from the impact to push himself onto his feet again.

'Damn, so acrobatic' Ed thought to himself as he struggled to keep up with Envy's movements.

Envy started his round of assault as he attacked with fast consecutive punches and kicks. Ed's could block most of the blows, but his breathing started to hasten, and he eventually got uppercutted in the jaw, resulting in a leakage of blood from the mouth. Despite the pain, the elric was close enough to pierce Envy in the neck, which made the seemingly invincible homunculus fall back a little, but such an injury would soon regenerate into brand new flesh.

Huffing and puffing was a new struggle for the poor human, but he still stood on both feet as he wiped his mouth of the red blood which plagued his small tinder lips. "Damn . . you're an even better fighter . . . than Greed." Ed admitted, slow with his speech.

As expected, Envy recovered his throat in mere seconds, regaining the ability to speak.

"Hahaha, while I appreciate the flattery, pitiful compliments won't save you now. You wouldn't have earned this ass-beating if you simply told me where your brother is hiding." Envy reminded Ed.

"Yeah, like I would tell you where he is." Ed fired back.

"Oh, but in due time you will, I just know it, I know you." Envy declared, wrapping his arms around his stomach.

"What's that supposed to mean? Have you been stalking my brother and I this whole time on our journey!? What do you know about it!?" Ed shouted, regaining his usual speech, and obviously offended by Envy's last comment. His balled his hands into a fist, veins were popping out, teeth were showing, and eyes were leering. His anger kept his mind and body invigorated, focussed, and alive.

"Don't be silly, I'm not your guardian angel, but I know enough that self-sacrifice isn't an option for someone such as yourself." Envy confirmed as his expression grew more serious.

Ed responded with a slight growl, he couldn't think of a rebuttal.

"Let me ask you something Edward Elric, what do you know about me?" Envy asked with a hint of aggression in his unique and androgynous voice. Ed looked somewhat confused at the question.

"You know, the last time I asked you about yourself, I got my ass kicked, so what makes you think I'll ask now?" Ed neglected the question with obnoxious aggression in his tone voice.

Envy titled his head down, a small frown formed on his mouth, but quickly reverted back to a smirk.

"Although, I think a better question is why you haven't killed me yet. If you're a monster, then why aren't you acting like one?! What's the hold up?!" Ed yelled questioningly, confused by Envy's seemingly convoluted actions.

"Wasn't it you who said you would never forgive me? And that it was only because I carried that _**bastard's**_ . . blood in my . . . . . .?" Ed's voice drifted slowly into silence, lost in thought, lack of words. His face, filled with astonishment, faced the envious creature, but looked aimlessly into the far distance.

'No . . no . . wait a minute . . . . how can that . . .no way . . no way! But then, why?' Ed thought to himself, his own realizations were conflicting his better judgment.

Envy started to walk closer towards Edward. "Finally catching on huh? That's good, now here's your last clue." Envy said as he quick darted toward Ed and punched him clean in the face, sending the youngster flying back into the trees. Ed hissed in pain as he clenched his bleeding face, and struggled to get back onto his feet; the pain was almost unbearable, the pain . . . was **real.**

"Damn it" Ed said weakly while coughing up some blood. His stance started to falter and his vision gradually grew more blurry, he was losing it, losing the fight, and losing consciousness, but not his will.

Ed quickly got into the defensive position as he dodged and blocked, with his automail, incoming pocket knives from an Envy in Hughes form. All the while, Envy kept running at him, and once he was close enough to Ed, he transformed back to normal and hopped over the alchemist; being over top of Ed in an upside-fashion with both arms, now sharpened blades, rearing to backslash Ed, but got blocked by the automail, resulting in a plethora of flying sparks from the clash.

With the given momentum from the jump, Envy flipped onto both feet and bounced into a backflip to slash at Ed with a newly created leg in the form of a blade. Once again, Ed blocked the attack, then proceeded to slash at Envy, but the lightweight homunculus dodged that attack, then performed a windmill breakdance with both of his legs moving as blades in a counterclockwise direction. The clever alchemist twisted his body in time to block the impact of Envy's leg blades with his left leg made of automail. From there, Envy decided to hop back and keep his distance from Ed. The automail was in worse condition, slash marks and bits of broken pieces were everywhere on the contraption. It won't last much longer if those attacks keep up.

"You know, for someone who wants to get there limps back, those fake ones sure are keeping you well and alive." Envy stated, laughing at the irony.

"Yeah, go on and keep laughing, you bastard." Ed dared as he clapped his hands together, summoning spiked earthy pillars from the ground to stab Envy. To Ed's bad luck, Envy carefully avoided the attacks with elegant high jumps and flips to keep out of range; at one point, Envy kicked off part of one of the earthy spikes with a timed rotational kick and used his spinning momentum to throw the spike back at Ed at full power. Ed barely avoided the attack, which bore through some trees behind him.

'Damn, I guess he really does want to kill me after all.' Ed figured to himself, still unsure of Envy's true intentions.

Taking advantage of the off-balanced position of the elric, Envy took a jab at Ed with another powerful punch. Ed yelped at Envy's speed, but bent his body further backwards, dodging the punch, and backflipped out of the way.

'Hopefully, Scar won't mind if I borrow this attack.' Ed thought to himself, ready to counterattack with the powerful alchemic technique.

Once Ed got upright again, he squatted and swiftly planted his hands onto Envy's waist, and blue lights formed in the moment of contact. Envy backed off before getting completely blown to bits from the blast; a big gaping hole formed on his side revealing some of his internal organs. As expected, the damaged area patched it self up with white alchemic light.

"Ooo, I see someone's getting desperate to murder me, not bad." Envy admitted, looking normal as ever; meanwhile, the blonde alchemist kept huffing and puffing, he felt fatigued.

'At this rate, I won't last much longer against him, I gotta end this quickly.' Ed promised himself as he hopped back onto his feet, gathering whatever strength he has left for his last gambit.

He clapped his hands once more and proceeded to press them onto the muddy ground, only to be stopped by a drop kick from Envy, sending the boy flying further back into the trees once more. Ed, once again, struggled to get back up, and Envy, being fast on his feet, had already circled behind Ed to tug him hard by the braided hair. He lifted the blonde-haired boy by the braid with ease, grinning gleefully at the vulnerable alchemist trying to break free. Ed hissed in pain, being tugged on from the hair was never a comfortable feeling, and certainly not from your arch-enemy.

"What will it be Pipsqueak? Would you like to suffer some more pain before I'm done? Or should I end you right here?" Envy asked with sadistic pleasure as his arm turned into a sharp blade, and held it up to Ed's sweaty nape.

"You can kiss my rear-end." Ed answered with a raspy tone of voice.

Envy laughed at his answer. "Wrong answer!" Envy exclaimed as he began to swing Ed in a circular motion in the air while still hanging on to his braid. Ed felt like he was literally losing his mind, the pain was unbearable, the young lad couldn't help but scream from twisted torture.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

All the while, the demented creature continued to chuckle and laugh at the displeasure of the rotating human. With each complete rotation, the screaming progressively got louder and louder, and the laughter only followed suite. Round-and-round the hell continued for a few more moments until the beast stopped playing with its food, as if it grew bored of its meal.

He lowered the boy to eye level only to whisper into his ear, "Do you understand now?"

Ed, as limp as a rag doll, barely processed those words, and what they meant; all he could do was pant and occasionally throw up bits of blood from his mouth. His world, his vision, shifted in multiple directions, a dizzying dilemma. His stomach grew disgustingly nauseous, and his mouth had a sour taste of iron, he felt miserable, defeated. He wished that Envy would let him go, so that gravity would do the work, and let him rest on the muddy ground. He wished he could sleep on that ground, only to wake up and pretend that this was all a dream, that Envy never showed up, and that he could set out and do his research. Why had destiny done him so wrong? He wondered about that question, as he dangled, almost motionless, breathing, but motionless.

"C'mon Ed, are you still with me?" Envy asked as he slapped the dying boy on the cheeks multiple times. "It's no fun If you die on me now. This is only a tiny fraction of the pain that I've had to experience, so what's wrong? Too much for the Pipsqueak to handle? To comprehend?!" Envy shouted as he punched Ed right in the stomach, blowing him away until he tumbled into a big puddle of water.

The frail boy laid on his shattered belly, on the muddy puddle, looking more like a corpse. It was a miracle that he still had his automail intact, though it was in bad condition. It was a miracle that he was even alive, he thought. Should he die now, all of his hardships would've been for nothing, yet he still believed in that damned principle of Equivalent Exchange.

Ed intentionally twitched his body, testing his bodily movements like wagging his fingers and toes around. He then tested his whole body, trying his best to move and shake about; testing the waters, and testing his vitality. Blood still dripped from his mouth, which diluted in the puddle of water like the blending of different liquids. His final assault was coming.

"Well, if you feel like dying right here, I'll make sure to help you with that. I have some ideas as to where your brother could be hiding. I'll make sure that everyone sees your corpse before I toss you into a watery grave to join your deceased _mother._ Maybe then your beloved little brother will show his hollow and ugly head." Envy declared, feeling victorious with each step he took.

Ed giggled under his breath, unleashing the strength to clap his hands and place them on the ground quicker than last time. The clever transmutation summoned a circular well made of hardened earth, prefilled with water, 10 feet deep and 15 feet in diameter, below Envy's feet. As such, Envy fell into the water, feet first, looking quite surprised from the sudden change in terrain. His feet touched the bottom of the well, but used such force to bounce up and swim back onto the surface. Ed took advantage of situation by getting back onto his feet, stumbling a little due to the pain. Once he limped enough to be overtop a corner of the well, he performed one last transmutation by placing his hands on the water, immediately freezing it. What remained of the newly formed pool of ice was the head of Envy around the center along with small portions of his middle and ring fingers poking out from his left hand. The almost-frozen homunculus had eyes widen with amazement, looking at the _weakling_ with a blank stare, not knowing what to think.

Ed settled his body on the corner like he was about to nap comfortably on the spot, showing signs of exhaustion, frozen in place, just like his enemy. His breathing still intensified, his blood took refuge on the crystallized pool of ice, his whole body was cold and soaking with bruises and cuts. He took a moment to look over at the seemingly immobilized monster with tearful eyes, a smirk appear on his face despite it all.

"Now . . . what were you saying . . . . about ah . . . .watery grave?" Ed asked with the last of his breath before collapsing onto the corner again, chuckling to himself at last.

END OF CHAPTER 7


	8. Chapter 8 What's Cooking At Home?

CHAPTER 8 WHAT'S COOKING AT HOME?

ED'S HOME

It was a gloomy day over at Resembool. The clouds were stratus in type, shielding the ground dwellers from the hot sun above. The winds were steady, yet calm as they shook the leaves of the trees that reigned over the rural landscape. The rain was absence and the thunderous booms could be heard from afar, but according to the forecast, Resembool would be spared of any danger. The place was relatively peaceful at the moment.

Some of the locals continued their outdoor chores while others stayed in the comfort of their homes. One such fellow was the younger elric brother, Alphonse, who did what he was told and remained in the cellar. His alchemically-designed quarters were now decorated with lit candles that hung on candle holders on each corner of the cell. A bookshelf, filled with various books mainly versed in alchemy, stood along one of the walls. A black punching bag hung at the center of the cell, swaying ever so slightly to the left and right. A small twin-sized bed laid opposite to the bookshelf, and in between two of the lit candles. It was where Al rested and relaxed, either to read one of his many books or groom the orange-colored cat.

Speaking of the cat, whose name is Gilbert, he would prance around the room and make messes everywhere from moldy hair balls to stinky urine and poop. Al would always have to clean up after him, and Pinako would occasionally bring down cooked meals for the little guy. But Gilbert usually ate from a specialized food bowl, which had his name engraved on it. It laid at the foot of the bed. The same bowl would be used for drinking water as well.

Al always enjoyed petting Gilbert, stroking his slick back, hearing him purr with delight; such scenes were adorable. Though Alphonse couldn't exactly feel Gilbert, it didn't bother him, much. As long as Gilbert purred with satisfaction, it made Al happy as well.

Even though the alchemic books were there to give the youngster a distraction, he couldn't help but be constantly reminded of his older brother. The mere fact that Edward was roaming out there in the unknown really worried Alphonse. He often regretted not going with his brother on his new journey, despite the stakes. He felt like a huge burden, unintentionally forcing his older brother to fix their _mistake_ all by himself.

The incident with Shou Tucker and Sloth only served as a reminder of his childish naivety; he hated those memories. It embarrassed him, made him develop self-hatred for having put some trust in his enemies. It filled him with doubt, made him believe that the main reason his own brother abandoned him here was simply because of distrust. Alphonse didn't blame his brother if he felt that way, it was natural. He was literally walking deadweight that would get into trouble whether by choice or not. 'How can you trust a dog that can't obey orders properly?' Al thought to himself.

In some ways, he wished that certain memories were just fabrications from his mind, that the bloodshed and sacrifices that he witnessed were false. Maybe _Barry The Chopper_ was onto something, he often thought. Sweet lies always tasted better than hard cold truths, and he had to embody those truths within truths; this was the price that he paid for setting out on this consequential journey with his brother, his equivalent exchange.

The bunker was a cold and empty place; The candle lights and the various other decorations livened up the room a little more, but that didn't erase what the bunker originally stood for, initially what it looked like. Though it was a hideout, it felt more like a jail cell, a time-out corner. What's more to learn?

A bunker below bunkers, a secret below secrets.

From time to time, Al would check on Pinako to get any updates regarding anything, especially Ed and/or Winry. The bunker stood 35 ft deep from the basement, both at which were connected by an elongated staircase. In this case, Al would hike slowly up the stairs until he got to the top, which housed a spot to plant a doorway with alchemy. This was how the bunker remained hidden from watchful eyes.

Pinako was cooking some steamed vegetables and fried chicken on the stove, enough food to last for several of days. All of her other house duties were finished for the day which gave her the time to cook. She stirred the vegetables in the pot, and hummed a calm tone all the while. She enjoyed her house chores to some extent, they relaxed her mind and old body. Winry hadn't come by yet, still hanging out with Sheska in a nearby town, both of which promised to return at the home the following night.

Pinako took a glance at the family photo of the Elrics, how happy they looked in the photo. The sight of such a photo always sparked a subtle, yet audible sigh from Pinako, how things have changed.

Her daydream was soon interrupted from the heavy clanking sounds that came with Al's footsteps. He approached the small elderly woman in the kitchen.

"Hey Pinako, did you get any letters from either Winry or brother?" Al asked sincerely.

"Hmmm I'm afraid not my boy, although Winry did call and said she's going to come over here tonight." Pinako said with a wrinkled old smile on her face.

Al's body moved with excitement "Really? That's nice to hear." Al said cheerfully.

"But in regards to your brother, I haven't heard from him since his departure. You'd think he would send a letter or call us by now, letting us know he's safe and all." Pinako said, looking somewhat worried and disappointed from the lack of communication.

"Oh . . ." Al said as he tilted his head downward, looking disappointed at the lack of updates as well.

"I sure hope he isn't fighting one of those so-called homunculi or into too much trouble, but who knows? You boys are always a magnet for trouble." Pinako stated, laughing a bit at her own joke.

Al didn't necessarily appreciate the laughter at a time like this, though he didn't display his offence outright, instead, whimpered a bit.

"But despite it all, Edward has matured over the years, I trust in his judgment to make the right choices, in order to see his family once again." Pinako added on, which made Al feel a little better about the situation.

"And, I also trust that you won't make any rash decisions either, now don't you dare try to go after him." Pinako demanded.

"Uh . . well I know that, but I'm really worried about him. He could be fighting one of the homunculi right now, and he might need my help!" Al pleaded passionately, truly worried about his brother and anxious of the possibilities.

"Were you even listening lad? You will not go after your brother, not like this." Pinako pointed out with an authoritative tone in her cranky voice.

"But he could be dead! Look, you've never faced or encountered a homunculus before, but we have, and they're no joke! They can and will kill anyone in an instant!" Al exclaimed, expressing his previous experiences with the creatures.

"I think you're underestimating your brother here. Have you ever thought that the boy would've come up with a strategy to counter them beforehand?" Pinako asked, really testing Alphonse faith.

"But-" Al started before getting cut off by Pinako's next sentence.

"Listen to me Alphonse. I'm not saying that you shouldn't be worried about Edward, but this excessive anxiety for your brother is having me worried, and I'm sure he wouldn't want that. He left you here knowing the consequences, and you cannot take that lightly. He's really doing you a favor; at least now, you don't have to worry about being targeted constantly because of the stone." Pinako finished before taking a quick smoke break from his pipe.

"I understand, but the more I think about, the more I feel guilty about it all. I feel like brother doesn't trust me anymore." Al admitted as his voice grew sadder in tone, and his red glowing eyes disappeared.

"Now why would you say that?" Pinako asked with a confused look on her face.

"Because I've done reckless things that could've put me and my brother in far greater danger than the norm, my actions could have costed us our lives!" Al stated with a sudden burst of energy, feeling quite passionate about his stance on the matter.

Pinako chuckled some more at Al's proposition.

"What's so funny about that?" Al asked, feeling a mixture of irritation and confusion.

"Here you are acting like this is the first time you boys have put yourselves in danger. You don't think Winry and I worry about you guys whenever y'all head out on the train? Off on another adventure? It was always tough to say farewell, knowing the possibility that you boys may not make it back home." Pinako reminded Al with a tinge of sadness in her voice as she spoke her truth.

Al calmed down, feeling bad for worrying those closest to him like that.

"But over time, I've learned that it's best for everyone's' well-being if you just have a little faith in those willing to take action."

Pinako clarified with a little more confidence.

Al lifted his head in response, not feeling that much better about Pinako's words.

"You say that your brother doesn't trust you now, because of the reckless mistakes you've made in the past, but It can go both ways as well." Pinako reassured him.

"I'm sorry, I'm not quite following . . . I mean sure, my brother has made plenty of mistakes in the past, but at least he's making up for them, right?" Al asked, showing some more interest in where the conversation could go.

"Yes that's true, and I'm sure you don't need a reminder of this lad, but you have to understand that you embody your brother's deepest of sins. Hurting a loved one, even if it was unintentional. At this moment, you've been made a desired target for the homunculi, and I believe that Ed can't forgive himself for bringing this type of danger on you." Pinako pointed out, taking a second to smoke some more from her tobacco pipe.

"That's why he feels he needs to do this alone to keep you out of harm's way, to redeem himself. You two are close brothers, do you really think that Edward would want you to beat on yourself, and shoulder all the blame for yalls losses?" Pinako asked as her eyes narrowed on Alphonse's metallic body.

Al gently nodded his head from side to side, "No . . . no he wouldn't" Al answered in as his somber voice echoed in his armor, and out into life.

Pinako hummed deeply as she nodded her head down, eyes closed for a moment. "It may not look it young man, but in spirit, you're growing into an adult. Being a responsible adult means learning from the past mistakes and attempting to correct them for a better future. An irresponsible adult would do the opposite; lacking any care in improving themself so that they might improve the lives of other folks closest to them. So, which one will you become? I wonder." Pinako worded curiously with a newly formed smile on her face.

Al started to feel emotionally better about his brother's choice. "Hehehe, you'll see." Al responded whimsically, knowing in his blood-sealed heart what his answer would be. Pinako chuckled as well.

"Sounds promising lad." Pinako finished as she walked back over to her cooking station. The vegetable pot started to boil, and the chicken changed from the raw pale color to a crisper brown color. The cooking process looked perfect as the outside clouds remained present in the light grayish sky.

"It's still too early to judge Ed's current situation at the moment, so give him some more time, to reassure us that he's safe and sound." Pinako added as she stirred the vegetables in the boiling pot of water, sprinkling bits of salt in the mix.

"You're right, thank you!" Al cheerfully said as he bowed slightly forward, paying his respects for the conversation.

"No problem Al, that's what family is for, right?" Pinako asked rhetorically.

"Yup." Al simply said.

"Oh yeah, Gilbert will have small portions of the meal ok?" Pinako remembered, reminding the armored boy.

"Ok!" Al quickly confirmed as he rushed back to his bunker to tell Gilbert of the news regarding dinner.

As Al entered his new _home,_ he plopped onto his bed, sitting up right to invite the awake Gilbert onto his own lap. He stroked the slick orange fur of the feline with his dark gray gloves, the cat was delighted.

"Don't worry Gilbert, dinner will be ready soon, just you wait." Al reassured Gilbert; the cat seemed too careless about dinner, only enjoying the gentle touches of the armored giant, soon to fall asleep again.

ENVY'S HOME

The abandoned city that remained lifeless underneath Central stood completely still in the dark, frozen in time. The decrepit architecture looked warped and surreal, yet incredibly vast and immense. There were thousands of bats that slept quietly on the ceiling of the caved city, acting as bodyguards or alarms for intruders. The rats that scurried on the empty streets claimed the ghostly homes and buildings for themselves. The only _human_ _life_ that remained here resided in a grandiose ballroom with a glowing yellow interior and several rooms to go along with it.

The main room housed several sets of wooden tables and chairs on either side of the room. It stretched far in length and height with multiple arch-shaped openings on either side. The room, despite its inviting presentation, was empty at the moment; although there was a small wired radio on one of the tables, playing a soothing orchestral song with beautiful yet haunting vocals. The song echoed in the lifeless room, unattended and unappreciated.

In one of the far rooms to the left, Dante was grooming the hair of a traumatized Rose with a comb, and then with her hands. She licked her lips with her tongue as a faint blushed appeared on her face. She eyed her prize theorily

"Oh yes, pretty soon, you will be mine my dear, and life will be much better for us all, trust me." Dante whispered into Roses ear, though Rose didn't seem to register what was said, staring aimlessly at nothing with blank eyes.

Gluttony walked into the room with a lumpy index finger in his mouth, he looked rather innocent and sad.

"Lust! Master what happened to my Lust?!" Gluttony cried out, still constantly wondering what could've happened to his precious companion.

Dante sighed, as she's heard Gluttony's whimpering far too many times.

"How about this Gluttony, if you promise to stay quiet for a whole week, then I promise you that Lust will appear once again, but you have to be a good boy." Dante pleaded, giving Gluttony her fakest of smiles.

Rather then jumping for joy, Gluttony turned around and walked away whining with his finger still in his mouth. He was emotionally exhausted.

Dante exhaled, relieved that her little trick worked on the saddened dimwit. She immediately went back to what she was doing afterwards.

A few moments later, Pride showed up in the room with his hands behind his back, looking quite respectable. He bowed his body forward, paying his own respects to his master.

"Good afternoon, Master." Pride greeted in his usual voice.

"Greetings Pride, what's the latest report on your military venture?" Dante asked, still stroking the lush brown hair of Rose.

"Things are going as planned. The majority of my men are fighting a war against Drachma up in the north. And with the power of our phony philosopher stones in the possession of some of our best state alchemist up there, the drachmonian casualty count should be very high. With that type of manpower, there should be many surrenders, and prisoners of war. Perhaps, enough ingredients to make another real philosopher stone."

"Sounds very promising. Let's hope your ignorant soldiers don't catch on to the true purpose your war." Dante commented.

"There should be no problem, although, I do have some bad apples in the bunch. Roy Mustang in particular has been catching on to the ploy lately, and I imagine he's been spreading the word to his fellow colleague as well" Pride suspected.

"Well we can't have someone like that poking around in our affairs, now can we?" Dante asked, seemingly concerned with the matter.

Pride chuckled a bit to himself. "Not to worry. He can plot against me all he wants, but the truth is, he's never faced a homunculus before. He won't see what will hit him, but I'll wait for him to make his move; I don't want to ruin my reputation." Pride stated, feeling quite confident of himself to finish the job.

Dante laughed lightly in agreement. "Well then, I'll leave that up to you." She said.

Pride smiled as well. "Has Envy come back with the stone yet?" Pride asked, changing the subject to more important matters.

"Oh that? Envy hasn't shown up yet, and I don't see what's taking him so long, he's usually quicker than this." Dante confirmed with disappointment in her voice; she hummed quietly, looking elsewhere at the corner of the room. "I might have to punish him if he takes too much longer." Dante finished with a smirk as she directed her sight back to Pride.

Pride caught the the hint and smirked as well. "Perhaps, he's taking out his frustrations on some unlucky civilians, or it might be possible that he torturing the life out of Edward Elric as we speak. He did leave rather infuriated." Pride suggested.

"Hmm, for his sake, I hope you're right. After all, he's the only homunculus capable for this type of mission. Gluttony's too depressed about Lust to even care about eating, let alone the stone. And for the child, Wrath is simply too impulsive, yearning for his so-called mother, it's kinda adorable, yet pathetic." Dante reasoned as she waved a lock of hair from her face.

"Hehehe, both of my remaining brethren, out of commision because of feeble human emotions. It's a shame indeed, but I think we can give Envy some more time before resorting to any unnecessary actions. By the way, where is Wrath right now?" Pride asked.

"Oh him? He's up in his room, sobbing his eyes out like a fragile baby. Let's just say he's grounded at the moment. To be quite honest, he's been more of an annoyance than an asset to our group. If he keeps this up, I might have to send him back into the gate." Dante mentioned, still speaking in a calm demeanor.

"I'm sorry to hear that, but I'll trust in your judgment." Pride said as he bowed one last time before turning back the opposite direction. "I'll keep you updated if anything extraordinary happens; things are about to get more interesting." Pride mentioned.

"Oh Pride, before you go, have you been keeping the gift safe and secure?" Dante asked at the last second.

Pride turned his head. "Yes ma'am, I've kept it hidden from human eyes and hands. Only I know where it is." Pride answered.

"Wonderful. It's important that you don't lose it." Dante reminded Pride.

"Yes master." Pride finished, closing the door behind to leave the withering Dante by her lonesome.

Dante looked back at Rose's almost lifeless face. "I apologize for the delay Rose, we're having some difficulties with the preparations. After all, my _son_ was always the headstrong type." She said.

CHAPTER 8 DONE


	9. Chapter 9 The New Deal

CHAPTER 9 THE NEW DEAL

It's been sometime since the cryogenic stabilizing took place.

The beaten down alchemist laid silently on the edge of the pool, half-aware of his surroundings. The rain downgraded into a drizzling halt, and the thunder had lost its clamorous passion. Steady breezes swept occasionally along the surrounding area, causing the grasses and trees to sway gently from side to side. There were breaks in the clouds that revealed pockets of light that shone gloriously from the heavens above. The water droplets that settled on the lush shrubbery sparkled beautifully and collectively from the light's presence. There was even a pretty faint, but visible, rainbow that manifested in the far distance, overarching the land of Artmetris with its grace.

The restrained Envy remained still in the motionless bath he was seemingly stuck to, as if he were meditating. His face was plain, having both eyes closed and his mouth shut. His long forest green hair spreaded majestically on the ice's surface like the tentacles of an octopus; multiple strands of hair covered his face, concealing the truth. His true intentions, remained unclear, unknown.

"It's time to rise and shine Pipsqueak, you can't sleep all day." Envy demanded, breaking the eternal silence in the air.

Ed shook a little bit, raising his head to see the still-alive entity in front of him. He felt small portions of his strength come back to him, at least having the ability to speak fluently. "Hehe, don't worry, I wasn't sleeping, I was - "

Seconds later, the boy was cut off by the two needle-like appendages projecting from Envy's available fingertips, centimeters away from his eyes, causing him to flinch with fear.

"Did you believe you had won this fight, Edward? Did you think you could trap me like this? Or did you forget who you were dealing with here?" Envy asked in a calm yet sinister tone.

Ed could barely move his face; his eyes were wide with anxiety as well as his expression. He gulped his throat, sweat drops were beginning to form on his face. He could see that he was defeated, or at least on the verge of it. But then again, was victory ever an option for the determined elric?

"You see, I like a little torture and torment from time to time. Your screams, your wounds, that pathetic look your face; I love it all. So, you're gonna suffer in agony, bleed in despair, die slowly, knowing that your purpose, your entire reason for being, will be for not." Envy revealed, making his intentions finally known to the startled boy.

Ed barely worked up the urge to speak. "But . . who are you? Who are you . . really?" Ed asked as fear and vigor crept up in his voice.

Envy smirked, looking to his right. "Why should you care? I'm a _monster,_ am I not?" Envy asked, teasing the boy's emotions.

"JUST TELL ME WHO YOU ARE GOD DAMNIT!" Ed shouted, losing his patience with the immobilized immortal. Even Envy was shaken up a bit from Edward's sudden outburst, though it was subtle.

"I know that the lot of you homunculi have your own vendettas with me and my brother. Wrath wants the rest of my body because he thinks that'll make him a human, and Sloth wanted us dead because she couldn't stand having motherly memories of us. She thought that if she wiped us out, she would be free of the torment those memories brought her." Ed summarized, hints of guilt were mixed in his voice of reason.

"But you . . . you're different." Ed stated coldly and outright.

Envy wasn't fazed by the proposition, he laughed instead. "How am I so different? I'm a homunculus, just like Wrath, Sloth, and Gr -"

"That's not what I meant!" Ed yelled, increasingly growing more irritated as Envy danced around the subject. Envy giggled at the loudmouth.

"You people maybe be of the same species, but your purpose for living, and more so for killing, are different. Lust killed out of wanting to be a human, as if that goal would give her some sort of enlightenment. Gluttony kills human lives because his stomach is like a bottomless pit, it's in his name. Speaking of names, your name is Envy, but what would you be envious of?" Ed proposed, wanting to reach the truth of the matter.

"Hmmm" Envy hummed as he lost the snarkish expression on his face.

"I mean, you have all of these amazing powers; the ability to shapeshift, superhuman strength and speed, regenerative abilities, and something like immortality. But even with all of that . . . hahaha, I feel like I'm having a deja vu moment right now." Ed realized, laughing at how history can repeat itself.

Envy looked slightly confused with Ed's last comment, but nevertheless looked content with himself. "You're not wrong, so what's your point? Last time I checked, your brother has inhuman abilities and body structure, similar to that of a homunculus." Envy stated.

Ed fumbled a little in his words, just like last time when he got cornered with that mind-blowing comparison. "But . . at least you homunculi have flesh . . . at least you guys can feel pain . . can eat if you so choose . . can feel the touches, the comfort of someone else . . " Ed compared slowly and sadly, just those simply thoughts brought on a new sadness in his golden-colored eyes.

"Hehehehe 'the comfort of someone else' you say? Don't make me laugh with your ignorance, it's embarrassing." Envy pleaded with a hint of reborn aggressiveness in his voice.

"I'm ignorant? How do you explain Wrath's strong attachment to Sloth, or to wanting a mother in general? And how do you explain Sloth's acceptance of Wrath's embrace? At the very least, she cared for Wrath in a loving way, didn't she?" Ed challenged, reminded of Wrath's depressing breakdown over Sloth's death.

"Because he's still an innocent who has moma issues. And Sloth thought that treating Wrath as her _son_ would help with her internal issues . . . and from what I heard, look what it got them." Envy coldly stated, even Ed couldn't argue with those circumstances.

"Both Sloth, dead as she is, and Wrath are particularly young for homunculi standards. They haven't witnessed enough horror, or shed enough blood for that matter. Not to mention, they're in the states they're in right now because of those pathetic human emotions. Lust was the same way, wondering who she was, and where she would go. In my eyes, she had the potential to live a long and resourceful life, but in the end, she fell prey to her own thoughts and motives, and she paid for the consequences. . . " Envy ended almost in a bitter-sounding whisper.

"So are you saying that the lack of positive human emotions is supposed to make you a better person?" Ed asked, not at all convinced of such talk.

"Well, judging from how long I've lived throughout the centuries, what do you think smarty-pants?" Envy tested, feeling quite sure of his reasoning.

"So what if you've lived a long and hardened live? It couldn't have been enjoyable living with a mindset like that, which brings me back to my first question . . . for the last time, who are you?" Ed asked with fatigue and irritation in his voice.

"Do you really want to see?" Envy warned, taking delight in Eds frustration.

Ed inhaled the surrounding air deeply, exhaling afterwards to keep his cool as best he could. 'Remember Ed, he's just playing mind games.' Ed thought to himself in secret.

"Alright, I'll take that as a yes. . . " Envy answered for the flustered alchemist. Few moments later, Envy was enveloped in a white light that scanned through his head. The once spiky-haired person now changed into an older-looking teenage male with golden hair and eyes, the same as Edwards. The newly formed Envy had a smug smirk on his face as he continued to gaze over at the bewildered alchemist.

Edward couldn't believe his eyes, they widened with pure astonishment . . . his inner suspicions . . . came to fruition.

 _ED POV_

" _No . . way . . ."_

 _Those two words were the only sounds that I could fabricate out of my mouth. I should've seen this coming, I was starting to pick up on the signs, and yet . . . the revelation still hit me harder than a physical blow from my foe would've. To know that the person, no this creature, that I've been fighting with this whole time. . . was the son of my Old Man. . . and the brand name of "Envy" became all too clear, yet all too complex. My body was as frozen as the icy pool, my heart skipped a few beats, my breathing became disheveled, my eyes and mouth were wide open. And to see the look on his face, it haunted me. I knew this was a trap, formulated from the sadistic bastard himself, but I couldn't do anything about it, I was his prey for that moment, at least . . ._

The blonde-haired homunculus took the opportunity to crave a small cut on the left cheek of the traumatized alchemist with one of his sharp elongated fingers. Ed barely registered the pain, it became a normacy to him. The fingers finally retracted back to their sender; Envy took the liberty to lick off some of the fresh blood from his blood tipped fingers.

"You're . . . the son of my old man . . ." Ed uttered out.

"Indeed, but what's with the look Ed? I thought you wanted to see." Envy said as his voice was much deeper than before.

Edward slowly regained his composure, and gulped in the back of his throat. Envy chuckled at such a sight.

"You see, my master and Hohenheim were lovers, and I was once their son. From what I was told, I died prematurely of mercury poisoning, and my amazing parents decided to perform human transmutation, and I was born as a result. I'm the first homunculus to be born almost 4 centuries ago." Envy paused, letting those words soak in for the boy.

"I see." Ed commented.

"But as you can imagine, the _Old Man_ left me behind to start a new family with his perfect wife and kids. You must understand why I hate him, why I hate you, right?" Envy asked rhetorically, piercing Ed's left shoulder with an almost lightspeed fingernail attack.

"Ack! Damn you. . ." Ed said coldly as he tried to released himself of Envy's torture with his remaining arm. Blood started to leak from the point of injury. Envy chuckled all the while. Eventually, the child prodigy successfully transmuted his automail arm into the signature blade in attempt to cut of the spike. As such Envy, retracted the fingernail again before the boy had the chance to swipe at it.

"Look on the bright side, at least you'll know the true identity of your executioner before you die here." Envy declared as he transformed back into his preferred form.

Ed was too concentrated on sealing the wound with his automail hand to worry about Envy's chit chat, but he managed to maintain consciousness.

"So you're gonna use the philosopher's stone to kill Hohenheim of Light, huh?" Ed asked to confirm.

"That's my ultimate goal, yes." Envy answered.

'Hmm, but why would he need the stone to do that if dad's alive? Not unless something crazy happened. . .' Ed thought to himself.

"Ok, then let me ask you this. Let's say that you do use the stone to summon my father, and then kill him. . .what will that accomplish, and what will you do after?" Ed asked, wanting to prolong the conversation.

"Isn't it obvious, squirt? But what are you getting at?" Envy taunted questionably.

"Hmph, seems pretty bare-bones and pointless to me. . ." Ed gloated, clearly unimpressed from the forthcoming.

Envy frowned, staring at Edward with cold snake-like eyes. "What the hell do you know about it." Envy asked in a venomous and gritty tone, feeling quite offended by the disrespectful comment.

"Tell me Envy, what do you plan on achieving by getting revenge on the bastard? Because even if you do find him, and kill him, will you truly be satisfied afterwards?" Ed asked, wanting to promote thought in the detestable creature.

Envy had a smug smirk. "Oh course I'll be satisfied, that's what revenge is for. Shedding blood from that damn bastard will be the day I truly feel alive, and seeing you humans suffer time after time will also add to my happiness. It's essentially why I was born, and my name is a testament of that cause." Envy answered.

Ed chuckled a bit to himself.

Envy noticed and raised an eyebrow. "What are you laughing about Pipsqueak?"

"It doesn't seem right to say this, but you and I are more alike than I originally thought. When I heard that Maes Hughes died, I was filled with so much rage. He was a great pal to me and my younger brother; he was like a ray of light in my process of being a dog in the military. And the fact that no one told me about his death sooner, even when they knew about it . . really pissed me off." Ed stated, pausing his argument to let his words take effect. Envy seemingly looked unsurprised.

"I wanted to take revenge on whoever killed him, and I have a filling that I'm looking at him right now." Ed looked at Envy with sharp and narrowed eyes, they glowed fiercely under the semi-illuminated sky. Envy turned his head to the left to look away from the threatening eyes that gazed upon, a small smile creeped up on his lips.

Ed retained his usual look, calming himself down. "Well anyways, I eventually gave up on that notion, because I was reminded that there were more important things that had to be done. I learned that I needed to move on, because even I could kill you, it wouldn't change a thing. Hughes would still be dead, and there's no bringing the dead back to life . . ever." Ed finished.

Envy turned back to face Edward. "So what? I'm not doing this for anyone but myself, so why should that apply to me, you fool?" Envy asked with bitter malice.

"Well that's just it. If I wasn't talked out of giving into my own emotions at that time, then I would've been no different than you. . .and I can't allow that. . ." Edward barely finished his sentence as his voice shook up from the grief. Tears were slowly starting to form in his eyes. 'Damn these emotions.' Ed thought to himself.

Envy rolled his eyes at the pitiful sight. "Yeah, like I care about how you of all people will turn out as." Envy pointed out.

Ed couldn't contain his encroaching emotions, they started to take over. He wiped his eyes of the teardrops that plotted their venture down his bruised up cheeks. "Yes you do! . . .How could you not damnit?" Ed blurted out.

Envy's eyes widened slowly with astonishment as he bowed his head down, his teeth were clenched slightly. His headband disappeared from his forehead, giving way for his long hair to drop down freely, covering his face. He remained silent, eventually closing his mouth again, regaining the usual intimidation his eyes gleam out. A quick image of someone popped up in his mind momentarily.

Ed wiped the last remnants of his tears as he looked over at the bewildering homunculus. "Listen . . you have no idea . . just how much I've learned about you within those few moments of your reveal. You can't fool me anymore god dammit, you just can't. . .As much as you would like to hide it, I can still see the pain . . the regret . . the sin . . in your face. Perhaps . . to some extent . . I feel it as well. And as much as I might ha-" The heartfelt speech was cut off by the intervening homunculus, ready to speak their mind now.

"You fool, don't act like you know me." Envy said in a deep resentful tone of voice, his face showed a mixture of malice and anger beneath the thick strands of green hair.

"The nerve . . how can one such as yourself . . . someone I loath so very much . . . think for a moment that they've grasped a full understanding of me? We homunculi, aren't meant to be understood by the likes of the human mind . . ." Envy stated still looking down aimlessly.

"But that's just it, your appearance may not say it, but your identity does . . . " Ed remarked.

Envy grunted, then chuckled silently. Edward continued on "Yeah, keep laughing . . just keep laughing you monst-" Ed's sentence got cut short as he coughed out some blood, how it pained his throat in the process.

"Oh, be careful not to overexert yourself FullMetal Pipsqueak, being over talkative is unhealthy for the soul." Envy mocked the badly-beaten boy.

"Damn it . . . shut up you bastard." Ed demanded, growing weary by the second.

"Make me tough guy." Envy tempted as his fingers transformed into bladed scythes, ready to slash.

'Damn this, I'm getting weaker by the second. I can't pass out, not in front of him! He's just toying with me, right? But the moment I lose consciousness is when I truly lost the fight! Al . . please forgive me for what I'm about to do . . . it's tempting, and I'm out of options . . it's time to make a deal with the devil.' Ed thought to himself as sweat drops rained down his cheek.

"No thanks, I have a different approach now." Ed confirmed. The armed homunculus still kept his guard up, raising an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?" Envy asked.

"Look, we both have our own goals, right? You want to kill my father out of a deep-rooted hatred, and I just want my brother and I to get our bodies back. At the moment, I'm the only one who really knows where my brother is, and to seek him out, I need to be alive. So . . . let's make a deal . . Envy." Ed proposed.

Envy's jaw dropped a little bit, and his eyes were filled with surprise and confusion. ' _What is this boy thinking? Not unless?'_ Envy thought.

"What is this about Full Metal? Huh? You really think that just because you know where you're brother that I'll be at your mercy?" Envy asked.

Ed nodded his head sideways. In a split second, Ed grinned giddily, making light of the situation. "Well, not exactly . . and you may not like this . . . but . . . considering who you are, how about this. ." Ed said as he swallowed in his throat.

"I don't believe this . . spit it out!" Envy demanded, causing the boy to hesitate.

Ed took a deep-breath, and the long-haired homunculus grew ever more impatient. "How would you feel . . . if I were to show you . . that not all humans, like myself, are like my . . _Old Man_?" Ed proposed, his heart beated rapidly and his body felt heavy, almost out of breath.

Envy couldn't believe those words, he laughed almost hysterically at this point. The sounds of his cackling echoed towards the surrounding scenery, a few birds flew out of the trees immediately. Edward felt very uneasy, not even cracking a smile.

"Oh oh hold on, I think I need to get the wax out of my ears because I think I misinterpreted what you just said Pipsqueak." Envy mocked as he calmed his laughter down to small giggles.

Ed didn't respond, knowing his message reached those ears just fine.

"I simply cannot believe this, you really are a coward, aren't you Edward? But I can't blame you for compiling such a weak-minded offer. This is even better than sending you to your grave at the moment." Envy commented, enjoying the current state of affairs.

Ed just stared on with half-closed eyes, barely muffling up the effort to counteract Envy's taunts. "Believe whatever you want." Ed said as he struggled painfully to get up on his feet. It took more effort than usual, but the young man stood proudly over the frozenly encased homunculus. His extended shadow casted down over top the crystallized pool and Envy all the same. Slivers of raw blood continued to gravitate down from the boy's fleshy wounds. "But I refuse to die at the moment . . ." Edward admitted as he looked into Envy's amethyst eyes.

"Oh yeah, think you're a big boy now? How naive. Then tell me why I should even care about such a frivolous offer. Because I don't care who it is. You and the old bastard are literal insults to my existence. So why should I even give you the time of day? Why should I even trust your words!? You should just die where you STAND!" Envy shouted as he proceeded to launch the elongated fingernails back at Edward's face.

"BECAUSE UNLIKE MY FATHER, I NEVER RAN FROM MY SINS!" Edward shouted at max volume. The deadly fingernails stopped in their tracks, right in front of those golden eyes. A brief silence emerged from the absence of the loud eruptive vocal chords from the two opposing forces. The surrounding area stood still in time, not even a small breeze. Edward's eyes flared with pride and grandiose conviction as he leered at the frozen homunculus. Envy's face remained enraged, seemingly unfazed by the words. A strand of hair fell over one of his animalistic eyes.

Slight hesitation formed in the eyes of the alchemist. He took a deep breath, attempting to calm his rapidly beating heart.

"Unlike the bearded-bastard, I faced through my sins, and conquered them in the end . . so don't you dare compare me to him!" Ed demanded coldly as he clenched his kincukled into fists. Envy still eyed the alchemist with sharp and narrow eyes, but his mouth was closed. Simply speechless.

"Listen, do you think it's easy for a human like me to confront a homunculus, to kill one? I still get nightmares of Greed's distorted face as he laid there . . frozen . . ready to die." Edward paused as his voice shook up from the memories. He loosened up his fists. Envy rolled his eyes.

"Even though you homunculi are errors that we, the alchemists, must correct, it doesn't negate the fact that you guys have your own personal motives, upbringings, and most of all . . . your own unique consciousness. It means that like a human, there's always room to grow, thus there's always room for change. And with you . . as much as you like to act all tough and murderous, there will always be that slight hint of humanity that you desperately seem to suppress. You see mankind as weak-minded and pathetic . . . hell even unworthy of your trust and respect, don't you?" Ed asked, still looking down at Envy.

"Hmph, yeah so what?" Envy countered.

"Well, I don't think that it's fair to generalize every human into one bias view like that. Otherwise, you wouldn't be as envious of us as you are now, because I highly doubt that you've lived a wonderful life despite how superior you may be to us humans. Your friend, Lust, wanted to become human, although I couldn't bring myself to trust her completely. Nevertheless, if she desperately wanted to become human despite how dangerous she was, then there must've been a pretty good reason for that drive, one that I may never find the answer to . . . But that's why I've decided to make this offer with you because maybe there's a chance that you might accept it, and in exchange, you leave me and my brother alone, dammit." Ed finished, almost muttering the last bit of words.

Envy continued the unannounced staring contest with the Elric, fingernails still threatening to poke those childish eyes out. He closed his eyes, and smirked ever so slightly, no longer paying no mind to his prey.

"Seems like you've grown softer by the minute Ed, what a change." Envy stated.

"Oh don't get the wrong idea, I don't forgive any of the crimes you monsters have committed throughout the years." Ed paused as anger seeped onto his face, he lowered his head. "And I don't think I ever will . . ." Ed muttered painfully.

"Well, that's something we have in common then, but I wonder . . with the way that you were talking, you're seemingly making yourself out to be someone who has some genuine care for us, homunculi, like we're somewhat capable of redeeming ourselves by some miracle. But would you have said all of that if you had the method to kill me during our little fight, or at this very moment?" Envy questioned, challenging the boy's resolve. Ed's eyes sparked up as astonished by the question. He reverted his sight back to the smirking homunculus who's purple eyes were lit up to see again.

"Well?" Envy asked, patiently waiting for an answer.

Ed swallowed in his throat before speaking. "To be honest, I would've killed you if I had the chance, who wouldn't? It's what a _**pathetic**_ human's gotta do to stay alive, right? But, I gotta put my foot down somewhere, I can't keep running away from my problems, and sadly, you're one of them." Edward admitted, not taking anything back.

Envy chuckled on and on from the confession.

"I thought so, it always amuses me when people, like you, do that. You'll play yourselves out to be more benevolent than you actually are, just to survive in a world with arbitrary standards you human's have established for yourselves. It's just like when someone's doing a job interview in the hopes to get the job. They could speak their honest truths as to why they want to work, which is always to earn money, but that won't cut it. They would have to come up with some fabricated answer that usually doesn't reflect their true feelings. But it's all about lying to work, especially if you're working solely to survive, and not caring about how your own well-being will hold out in the struggle. And this idea can applied to many other situations, like this one." Envy said. Edward remained speechless.

"Hmm, the silent treatment you're giving me says it all, so don't even try to get out of this through lying . . although, I guess I should've expected something like this. Not only do I detest you, but I you're also no different from the many encounter's I've had with people in the past. You really are a joke, and you're not a true hero of the people, you're just a mere selfish alchemist." Envy outright said, and Ed grunted in response.

Envy sighed deeply, which lasted for a few moments. "But, as much as it pains me to say this, I do appreciate the honesty. No one has ever negotiated with the likes of me under these types of circumstances, it's pretty bold of you. And at the moment, I am in need of accessing your brother's hiding quarters. Plus, it would be such a waste to kill you now, I still have more pain and misery to inflict on you, little alchemist." Envy taunted, giggling at Ed's ticked off face. Strain marks emerged from within the boy's forehead, his teeth were clenched in a fiery glory.

"So, does that mean you accept the offer!?" Ed let out in self-contained rage, keeping his temper in check.

"Hmmmmmm . . . perhaps." Envy confirmed.

Edward quickly relaxed himself after the words registered in his brain; that was all he needed to hear as he collapsed onto the ground on all fours. His faced nearly kissed the ground, yet he felt overjoyed, he smiled even. Small bits of subtle laughter could be heard from the grounded alchemist.

'I . . I can't believe that worked . . . I thought I was gonna die there . . Alphonse . . there might be a chance that I'll pull through this after all.' Ed thought to himself.

The imprisoned homunculus sticked out his newly elongated tongue that slowly shifted into a slender red-colored snake. The snake slithered completely out of the mouth, leaving the once trapped Envy to be turned into dust, which leave an oddly shaped hole in the ice to take its place. Once the snake was out of the pool and beside Ed, it transformed back into Envy's regular form. He stood overtop of Ed, and with both hands on his hips, he took the liberty of pressing his left foot on Ed's exposed nape. Ed finally kissed the dirt, though he was obviously uncomfortable, made aware of the shapeshifter's dominant presence. To talk back, he adjusted the angle of his head towards Envy's direction.

"Damn, how did you get out so fast?" Ed mumbled due to his squished left cheek.

"Oh please, you really thought a simple trap like that would hold me? I decided that now's the time to emerge from my bed." Envy boasted, making the pinned down alchemist laugh a little.

"Hm hm did you find that amusing? Well, just remember that I have the power to end your life in an instant, so you better not cop out of your promise. After all, it is your philosophy. I just wonder if you're already starting to regret this decision, it might've been better if you just let me kill then, but oh well, more fun for me." Envy announced as he released his pressure on Ed only to receive a few grunts.

"Don't catch an attitude with me, now c'mon, get up. We're heading back to the campsite." Envy stated as he waited for Ed to pick himself back up.

"Who said you could start giving orders?" Ed questioned, not in the mood to follow Envy's lead.

"Who said you had time to complain, Pipsqueak?" Envy challenged, as Ed growled in rage.

Envy smiled on as his leaned in closer to Ed's personal space. He took a few whiffs and quickly back off. "Ew, better yet, go take a bath first shrimp, you smell terrible." Envy pointed out as he pushed the unprepared Edward into the icy pool with his butt in the air.

"Hey! What the hell Envy? You could've snapped my neck just now!" Ed complained as he adjusted his body upright.

"Hurry up." Envy said as he already started to walk off to the campsite. He disappeared into the trees.

It was almost evening time, and the sunlight glimmered through the breakage of the blanketing clouds. The wind kept a steady breeze as always.

Moments have passed, and the dirty alchemist was situated, naked, in the self-made bath that was heated with special alchemy to create a hot bath. The warmth of the water soothed Ed's beaten-up body, healing his soul. However, some of the boy's blood diluted into to the water, giving the water color a slight purple stayed in for what felt like forever, watching the day go by, wondering if he made the right decision or not.

CHAPTER 9 DONE


	10. Chapter 10 Unofficial Camp

CHAPTER 10 UNOFFICIAL CAMP

The skyhigh sun started to descend to the planetary horizon, filling the skies with beautiful blends of oranges, reds, yellows, and purples. The day was transitioning naturally into the calm night, and yet, the naked alchemist still settled in his man made pool, and of all things, slept his reality away; the youthfully arrogant boy was clearly exhausted enough, daring enough to resort to slumber despite the formidable threat that lurked nearby. The now cooled down pool eased his pains away like an effective serum, it was his new oasis now. The lower half of his body, however, was as shriveled up as a dried up prune, his potion was working too well.

'Damnit, what's taking that Pipsqueak so long?' Envy thought as he sniffed the air for Eds scent in his bloodhound form. The scent lingered into his nose, confirming that Ed was still nearby, and hasn't ran away . . yet. Consequently, Envy, in his preferred form, went back to his once icy imprisonment to check up on Eds whereabouts. What he saw, surprised him, almost pissed him off.

'Well well, this brat has a lot of nerve to fall asleep at a time like this. He must take me lightly, huh? I'll have to teach him some manners then.' Envy thought as he reverted back to his usual sadistic expression, a large grin formed on his face. He placed a hand over his mouth, forcing himself not to laugh out loud. He hatched a devious plan from his ever changing brain.

Moments later, the androgynous creature shapeshifted into a tremendously large tarantula, almost the size of Ed himself! The spider was a sickly green color with long hairs projecting from its course exoskeleton. Each of its eight eerie legs had hooked claws at the ends and saber tooth fangs to compliment. A nightmare inducing freak of nature.

It inched slowly towards the vulnerable alchemist, creeping up onto the circular edge of the muddy well with its long legs until it stood directly in front of him. In Envy's regular voice, he whispered loudly into Edwards moist ear, "Hey, wake up you foolish sleepyhead." The alchemist rested for a few more moments before grunting a little as a response. He then wiped his eyes in a sluggish fashion even going so far as to yawn loudly and obnoxiously, as if aware of the presence before him.

"Yeah . . . yeah Al . . hold on." Ed mumbled as his eyes remained closed, only to eventually open them up fully as more light seeped into his retina. Envy couldn't help but giggle a little as he bared his massive fangs and reached Eds body in a hug-like motion with his front two legs. As soon as Ed peeled his eyes wide open, he then quickly realized the predicament he was in. His face froze with a mixture of confusion and fear as he faced the unnatural abomination that stood before him.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! What the hell is this!? No! Get away! GET AWAY!" Ed screamed frantically as his alchemized his automail into his signature blade, quickly proceeding to swipe at the ominous creature. Envy, despite his enormous size, swiftly maneuvered behind the shaken-up boy. Once Envy's silk-spitting abdomen faced the distressed boy, he took advantage of the situation by lifting him up from the pool in all his naked glory with the two back legs.

"AAHHH! OH GOD, WHAT'S HAPPENING?! WHY IS THERE A GIANT SPIDER TRYING TO CAPTURE ME?! I'M NOT AN INSECT YOU DUMBASS ANIMAL!" Edward exclaimed, hardly registering the fact that he was out of the pool in the nude.

"Watch who you're calling a dumbass, you disrespectful little ant." Envy commented, feeling the need to reveal himself before Ed gets a heart attack.

"Envy!? Damn this, I should of known it was only you! And you watch who you're calling little you vile monster!" Edward warned, still shaken up from the sudden chain of actions.

"Oh? Don't worry, I'm watching you alright. Watching you helplessly struggle, clearly unaware of how foolish and exposed you look towards the animal children nearby." Envy pointed out before giggling at the whole situation.

Ed turned his head back towards his own hanging body, fully realizing how vulnerable he looked on the surface at the moment. The boy blushed of pure embarrassment, clenching his teeth with his eyes wide open.

"Oooohhhhh shit! Why me god dammit, why me? Clearly, there is no God, otherwise, this wouldn't be happening!" Ed cursed as he attempting to shield his exposed privates with his hands.

Envy bursted out laughing full on, taking true pleasure in the moment. Once he calmed down from his laughing fit, he said "Aww, is the poor baby Pipsqueak embarrassed? Maybe It's about time I change your diaper . . and teach you some more potty manners." Envy forewarned in a happily devious tone as he proceeded to wrap Edwards entire body with strong white silk by using quick legwork like a regular spider.

"Or better yet, let's change you into some nice clean clothes right now because every second you're naked is a disgrace to me personally." Envy admitted as he reached for the fresh clothes that settled by the pool

Ed screamed all the while as his body was being tied up like a cocoon. All that remained after the toilsome capture was Edwards head. As soon as Envy finished the deed, he slowly shapeshifted back to normal as the spider was quickly replaced with an androgynous teenager that had his prey tucked under his leg arm.

"There we go, now you're nice and comfortable, right?" Envy asked, teasing the boy with the rhetorical question as he started his march back to the campsite with Ed.

Ed tried to struggle out of his artificial cocoon but failed miserably. The repetitious panting demonstrated his fruitless efforts as sweat drops started to form on his face. "Dammit Envy, what the hell is this? Why are you taking me back to the camp like this?" Ed demanded an answer.

Envy rolled his eyes. "You must have amnesia then. I can't believe you've already forgotten how deep in slumber you were just in." Envy mentioned, slightly annoyed with Ed's forgetfulness.

"Wait! I really fell asleep?!" Ed asked as pure astonishment and embarrassment emerged on his face.

"Yes FullMetal Sleepyhead." Envy answered mockingly as he poked Ed sternly in the forehead.

'Man! How could I have been so careless? I know I was badly injured from the battle, but I didn't think I would fall asleep unnoticed. I have to pull myself together, or else, I'm done for. . .' Ed reminded himself as he veered his eyes away from Envys.

"Oh . ." Ed mustered up, unable to come up with an appropriate remark. Envy snorted out of annoyance, giving Ed a serious look before looking straight ahead.

"You know, had I not come, you would've turned into a human-sized raisin by now, and not the good kind. I want to make somethings clear between you and me, you would do best to learn that wearing out my patience is a very bad idea. And, if you were planning on giving yourself an early death by drowning yourself in the pool, you've make a huge mistake. You will not die under my watch, not until we get to the stone, got it?" Envy asked coldly.

Ed glared at Envy for second before turning away again to peek at deer that was roaming the area. "Yeah, ok, but just to let you know, I don't plan on dying anytime soon, and certainly not by your hands." Ed corrected.

Envy snickered quietly and smirked. "Whatever you say Ed." Envy said.

The rest of the walk was bathed in silence as the day slowly transitioned to night. In no time, however, the two arrived to the tent on the rocky plateau closest to the forest. Envy unzipped the tent with his open hand and tossed Ed harshly inside the tent.

"Ooww, what the hell was that for?" Ed asked, flustered as ever.

"Just shut up and relax, squirt." Envy mouthed as he took out a lantern and a pack of matches from Ed's suitcase. There had already been oil inside the lantern, so all Envy had to do was spark a match to ignite a small flame within the container before closing it.

"Hey! Have you been looking through my stuff!?" Ed asked angrily as he observed Envy's hand motions. Envy remained silent, a slight smirk appeared on his face as the lantern shun some orange light in the tent.

"Not gonna answer huh? Dammit, I shouldn't be surprised. I bet you destroyed all of my belongings didn't you!? Probably ate all my food, ripped up my clothes, and discarded my money, haven't you!?" Ed assumed with pure bitterness. Still Envy kept his mouth shut, though his smirk grew to a malicious grin, making Ed groan with anger and disappointment.

"Bastard . . . you know, when I was in the pool, I wasn't planning on drowning myself, but with the predicament I'm in right now, that option's not looking too bad right now . . " Ed muttered with a hint of regret on his face.

Envy started to giggle under his breath, which was audible enough for Ed to hear.

"Go ahead and laugh, just know that I hate this." Ed whispered with disdain.

Envy calmed down a bit from his giggle fits. "Ahh . . . my, oh my, for someone as seemingly optimistic as yourself, you do seem to make rather irrational assumptions about people, do you Pipsqueak?" Envy asked rhetorically as he opened up the suitcase, revealing the contents, perfectly intact. Ed's eyes opened up with slight astonishment, but he still wasn't convinced.

"Ok, I still don't buy it. You're an assassin after all, aren't you? At least, you're definitely suited to be one, given your powers. Meaning, you've probably got a trick up your sleeve to alter replace any objects with relative ease without making it look suspicious." Ed pointed out.

"Well, you might be right, or maybe not. I may be a shapeshifter, but that doesn't mean I'm capable of doing everything." Envy remarked with a vile smile.

Ed hissed his teeth in response. "Yeah right."

Envy looked inside the suitcase, discovering a tucked away apple in the corner, which he grabbed out for display. "What were you saying, that I purposely ate all of your food, just to excite your hunger?" Envy asked calmly.

Ed turned his head to face Envy, seeing the big red delicious apple that was being grasped in his enemies hand. Ed raised his eyebrows, and then pouted, his eyes stared coldly into Envys.

"Well, based on my love for apples, that idea of yours isn't looking too bad right now; in fact, it's looking perfect right now." Envy teased as he swayed the apple back and forth by the brown stem. Ed grunted in frustration, and Envy took notice.

"Oh, someone sounds grumpy over there. I'm sorry, did you want a bite as well?" Envy purred sadistically.

Ed closed his eyes, sighing deeply over the childish display. "Screw you."

Envy smiled as he continued to playfully swing the apple back and forth. "Oh, good point. I didn't think about there being a 'screw' loose inside of the apple, you are the _Full_ _ **Metal**_ _Alchemist_ after all; anything you touch is probably tainted in some way. Oh well, I guess you and I won't be needing this apple . . such a shame I'll say, huh?" Envy suggested as he threw the apple out of the tent and back into the wild. Ed continued to stare coldly at Envy.

"Go ahead, get rid of all my food, I can live without it for sometime." Ed commented venomously, all the while smirking self-righteously.

"Hmm, and here I thought you were a human, not a homunculus . . but I'm actually relieved you feel that way." Envy confirmed as he proceeded to once again dig his hands into Ed's suitcase, causing Ed to grow more curious of what the mischievous homunculus was planning.

"Wait, what are you-" Ed got cut off.

"Because then that means, you won't need to the comfort of perfectly good clothes, or water, or these alchemic research notes and documents, no no, you won't be needing any of this once I'm done." Envy promised as a vile grin etched into his face; he looked down at Eds belongings with purple eyes that shimmered ominously with the lantern light. He reached for the matches again, ready to light up another match. Ed reacted rabidly as he tried to squirm his way towards Envy, but failed in his pursuit for the cocoon was too strong.

"NO STOP, WHAT ARE YOU DOING, DON'T IGNITE MY STUFF YOU BASTARD!" Ed shouted with pure anger and worry. Envy took a moment to look at the flared up alchemist, the grin proudly remained.

"What's wrong? I thought you were a tough guy just a second ago." Envy brought up in a sympathetic tone.

"I never claimed I was, but I'll never accept an offer from a monster like you who thrives on other peoples' misery. And I'm definitely not about to idly watch by and let you burn down MY STUFF, MY PROGRESS!" Ed declared as a wrathful determination burned in his golden eyes in the light.

"Oh, but that's not exactly fair. I came here all on my own with nothing but myself, but now you get to make the rules and keep the abundance of supplies you carried with you? That's not equivalence." Envy stated back with simple hand gestures.

"What kind of twisted logic is that?! Of course I would bring things that I would need on my journey, I'm still a human being in case you forgot. You're an immortal freak of nature, Equivalent Exchange doesn't apply in that regard!" Ed fired back, still struggling to break loose from his sticky prison.

"Well I disagree. Right now, you and I are in a truce, so we such each share the same burden of making out the hell holes we've put ourselves in, only in a much similar fashion." Envy stated as he proceeded to light up the match with quick flicks on the ignition surface of the box.

"Because that is true Equivalent Exchange. Doesn't it feel good to get a bad taste of your own childish philosophy?" Envy asked smiling as he finally pulled off a small flame at the tip of the match.

"NO! PLEASE DON'T DO IT . . I'M BEGGING YOU GOD DAMMIT . . don't destroy my belongings, they're all I have left . . along with my family back at home . . just please, don't do anything. . ." Ed pleaded as he felt like he was about to shed tears out of anxiety and shame.

Envy looked over at the suitcase, and then back at Ed, enjoying the pitiful state the boy was in. He dared to hold the match up near his suitcase, just inches away from being set ablaze. Ed couldn't take it, he closed his eyes and looked away as sweat drops developed on his face.

Envy sighed and regained a regular smirk. "Well, I think that's all I needed to see. It's time to call it a night, don't you think Pipsqueak? It just wouldn't be as fun to torment you when you're not in peak condition, so instead . ." Envy paused as he throw the match at Ed's cocoon like a dart, slowly initiating the process of engulfing silky trap into flames . . with Ed along with it.

"What the!? Hey, ENVY, ARE YOU TRYING TO GET ME KILLED!? WHO SAID YOU COULD IMITATE THAT KISSASS OF A COLONEL?! YOU'RE NOT HIM!" Ed yelled panically as he watched the flame build up on the cocoon. He could feel the heat at his feet.

"Oh is that so?" Envy asked as he transformed into Roy Mustang in mere seconds. Ed was distracted by the simple ability that he should've grown accustomed to.

"Well FullMetal, you decided to make the sacrifice. By begging to keep your stuff safe and secure, you therefore made your stuff more important than your own being. That's the exchange you've made for yourself, so let's see if you make it out if this alive, and should you live, maybe I'll go a little easy on you and promote you to a higher rank." Envy brought up calmly despite the panic in Eds actions.

"SCREW YOU ASSHOLE!" Ed yelled, Envy laughed back as he transformed back to normal.

'Alright Ed, calm down. Don't let this bastard distract you, you have more important matters.' Ed thought as he looked at the ever-hungry flames.

'I'll have to make my move once the flame comes to my waist. That should be enough to rip out with my arms and escape. I might get caught in the flames, so I'll have to roll over to get rid of the flames.' Ed strategized to himself.

Envy simply looked on, curious as to how Ed would make it out of this fabricated dilemma. The flames grew faster, almost reaching Eds waist. Around this time, Ed tried to break the silky barrier with his arms, seeing that it started to weaken.

"Ahh AHHH AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH OWWWww Hot HOT HOT!" Ed cried out, feeling the fire coming closer to searing his skin off. Envy giggled at the sight. At the rate the fire went, it eventually caught the surrounding fabric of the tent, slowly setting that on fire.

The fire eventually reach Eds waistline, allowing him to rip apart the portion of the silk that bounded his arms, but at that point, his legs were burning hot. Ed screamed in pain as he ran out of the tent, pushing Envy out of the way. He quickly dropped on the smooth rocky surface as he pants were on fire, which brightened the night in an orange reign of destruction. Envy quickly regained his balance as he zipped up Eds suitcase with all of his belongings intact. He scooped up the suitcase and the lantern and exited the burning tent as quickly as possible. Once outside, he launched the suitcase down the rocky cliff and near the three stationary tents below him and placed the lantern on the ground. He then placed his foot on Eds stomach, ignoring the searing pain from the flames that excited on the black leather pants.

"Well squirt, let me help you with that." Envy said as he kicked Ed down the rugged cliff, causing the helpless alchemist to roll down the side at a fast speed. By the time he hit the dampened ground, the fire had extinguished significantly from his legs, but he also suffered some cuts and bruises from the trip down. He frantically resumed his rolling routine, back and forth, back and forth, only slower than before now. Eventually the fire went out from his legs, relieving him from the pain, but he was struggled to sit up; he took a glance at the homunculus that stood at the top. The tent behind Envy had completely engulfed in flames, which concealed his face from the bright light. As always, he carried that malicious grin on his face as he placed his hands on his hips, looking down on the beaten down alchemist below. The flames from the tent would rage on for quite some time, as such, Envy took the liberty to remove the flames by delivering powerful gust through a special technique. He got into the windmill breakdance position and effortlessly transformed his legs (knee and down) into giant japanese-style fans, and proceed to breakdance fluently. With enough rotations and time, the flames died down, leaving only the unattended lantern to breathe fire into the surrounding darkness. Afterwards, Envy stopped spinning, allowing his legs to turn back to normal and immediately hopped from the cliff to where Ed sat down.

"Well, that was quite the lightshow just now, but don't worry, the party's over." Envy confirmed, sounding almost disappointed from his own words. Ed couldn't break a smile as still looked at Envy cold-heartedly.

"Just leave me alone . ." Ed said with restrained frustration.

"Aw, someone needs his beauty sleep? Alright then, but before you do that . ." Envy released a sticky glue-like substance from his that splattered onto Eds chest, forcing the boy to lay down with his back on the ground. The substance hardened in mere seconds.

"Again with this nonsense!?" Ed erupted once again, clearly annoyed with this type of punishment.

"Well, I can't exactly trust you now can I? But don't worry, I won't try to burn you alive again in the morning." Envy promised.

"Yeah right, and are you seriously keeping me her in this spot until the morning?! What if I have to take a piss?!" Ed questioned with slightly embarrassed outrage. Envy giggled at the thought.

"Well, you looked like you were ready to piss yourself back at the tent when I threatened your belongings and when you're about to be incinerated, so it makes no difference to me whether you piss yourself now. Not to mention, I caught scent of your own urine back at the pool, so I think you've had your fair share of bathroom privileges." Envy countered with a wink, causing Edward to blush out of pure embarrassment.

"So sleep tight now, my prey." Envy said as he tried to pat Ed on the forehead, only for his hand to be met with a headbutt from the tied up boy. Envy couldn't help but smile at the fruitless effort. As such he took his leave into the middle tent out of the three to keep a constant watch on Edward. All Ed could do was lay there in frustration and helplessness, how pathetic he felt.

'Al . . I don't know how I'm gonna do it. But I promise not to let you down. I'm not in the best of situations right now, but I hope you're doing alright, and everyone else back at home. If I make out of this alive, it'll be through some miracle, I hope . . . goodnight.' Ed thought to himself as he looked up at the night sky. There was a new moon that night, and Ed tried his best to stay awake, but eventually his eyelids lowered, giving him permission to enter into the wondrous realms of dreams, and perhaps, nightmares. The night quieted down.

CHAPTER 10 DONE


	11. Chapter 11 Another Morning

CHAPTER 11 ANOTHER MORNING

The night sky would be replaced momentarily by a delightful dawn, the sun was starting to peek out from the horizon. The crickets silenced their excessive chirping, and the surrounding trees and greens regained their natural color back. The clouds resurfaced again in the sky, except, not as ominous and abundant as yesterday's batch. The wind was calm and comforting, and the birds continued their own routine of excessive chirping. Everything indicated a normal morning . . .

Edward seemed to have an internal alarm clock of his own as he woke up soon after the dawn settled. He saw the cumulus clouds that reigned above him, and as he turned his head, he saw that everything in the campsite seemed normal, which was a good sign to him. Everything seemed fine . . . except for a constant banging in his ears that seemed to come from the cliff top above him. He turned his head to left to see that neither Envy nor the tent were there like they were supposed to be. It caused him to express some form of worrisome surprise.

"Oh no, where did that bastard run off to with the tent?" Ed asked to himself. Afterwards, Ed noticed that the sticky wrapping that once bounded him to the ground was now cut open, allowing Ed to move freely again.

"Oh nice, I'm possibly free for the next hour or so." Ed grumbled to himself as he rose to his feet, stretching his arms and legs with a long yawn.

"Hey Envy! Are you there?!" Ed yelled out, wanting to confirm Envy's whereabouts. There was no answer, and the strange banging sound stopped as well.

"You better not be messing with me again! What happened to the tent that was here last night?! And what's that sound that I'm hearing?!" Ed once again shouted to get an answer, and to his unfortunate luck, no other sound emerged.

"Damnit, I guess I'll go look for you myself." Ed muttered to himself angrily as his stomach growled loudly, causing Ed to hold his stomach.

"Man, I need to eat something first at least." Ed admitted to himself as he started walking on the path to reach the top of the cliff. He stumbled a bit from the senges of his fleshy right leg, and the mechanical corrosive tears from his left. The pain became visible and sensational to Ed once again, reminding him of the horrors that would come with being around someone such as Envy.

"Ooowww jeez, I almost forgot about the damage." Ed said as he brushed his left hand against his automail leg. He looked behind him to see that there were still a few more available stones and minerals to use up.

"It may not do much, but whatever's left from that bunch should do to keep me standing . .for a little while longer." Ed assumed hesitantly as he walked carefully and slowly towards the bundle of material. In due time, the resourceful alchemist temporarily repaired the corrosive damage with a hardened substitute. He walked around, testing the durability, which suited his taste. As such, he continued his short path up to the top of the steep cliff.

When he reached the top, what he saw surprised him genuinely. The was a circular fort-like structure made of various thick logs and branches. The logs and branches were about the same in height and thickness, and despite the man made cuts to keep the wood straight, the wood still looked organic in shape, almost as though the mysterious worker lazily executed the overall design. As a result, the structure looked more jagged and somewhat intimidating to any outsiders. It spanned around 15 - 20 feet in diameter, and looked to be, at the highest, 10 - 15 ft in height. It lacked any roof or visible ceiling, with the woodwork just jutting out from the ground, The wood looked to be shoved somewhat deep into the dampened low grassy ground, assumingly to keep it stable. From Ed's perspective, there was a section of the structure that remained open, and the opening was tall and wide enough for a person to walk through, or for a door to be installed. Other than that, there were no windows, or any other decorations of that matter, to be seen from the outside.

"Woah . . where did this come from?" Ed wondered in awe as he looked around for any signs that would answer his question. He noticed that some of the trees that surrounded the campsite were cut down, leaving only the stomps to be seen. In addition, the ground looked messy, leaves and sticks covered bits of the land as if a storm came through, which only happened the day before. With such observations, Ed drew the conclusion that the only one who could've done this was known other than his nemesis, but what would be the purpose?

Curiosity peaked the young boy, and he decided to check out the poorly made hut for himself. When he entered inside, the hut looked relatively empty, except for a lone barrel that settled by the wall of wood, to the left. To Ed's unawareness, a long green tree snake slithered along the top edge of the hut's frame behind his back.

"What? A barrel?" Ed asked confusingly before being interrupted by a low audible hiss that seemed to last for a few seconds. It stunned Ed, causing him to freeze in his subtle movements, sweat drops started to form.

'Oh crap! Sounds like a snake is behind me! I mustn't have seen it coming in, dammit! Whatever I do now, I can't move.' Ed thought to himself panically.

The snake started to take an unusual shape behind Ed. The upper body of the snake expanded into something that resembled a human-sized torso. From there, the head of the snake grew to a human-sized shape with the regular features of a human face, except that the eyes were red in color, and long green hair emerged from the top of it's head, covering parts of its face. According, long human-like arms began to emerge from the sides of its torso. It stuck it's violet tongue out randomly and quickly, reaching out to grab Eds vulnerable head with it's scaly hands. Without warning, the creature opened up its large mouth, revealing its sharp fangs, and letting out a distinct noise which sounded hostile. It managed to grab Eds head, covering his ears, suddenly and firmly.

"AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ed yelled in fright as he shook his head wildly to escape the clutches of his apparent threat. He simultaneously formed his hand blade, trying to slash away at the hands that have retracted their grip. Not a moment wasted, Ed quickly rolled forwards to get a good look of the creature, ready to fight. That was until he realized the identity of who it was that trying to potentially attack him. Clearly, Ed wasn't pleased at all with the events that just took place, he calmed his expression into a blatant frown. The now revealed Envy loosen his posture as he lowered himself onto the ground, his tail followed him into the hut. He slowly reverted his body back into the usual human form, replacing the green scales and pale underbelly with the whiteness of his skin; his eye color changed to purple, and his long tail was replaced with humans legs. After the transformation, Envy stood on his feet with one hand on his hip, looking at Ed from the side.

"Well, good morning to you too, FullMetal Pipsqueak." Envy greeted in an innocent tone. Ed grunted.

"Yeah, piss off to you." Ed countered.

"Aw, someone seems to be in a grumpy mood as usual. At least I know that hasn't changed." Envy commented as he walked slowly towards the barrel.

"Yeah and I wonder who the hell is the cause of that, all the time." Ed commented back, walking away from Envy in a circular motion accordingly. Envy smirked as he took a seat on the barrel, crossing one leg over the other.

"What's going on here? Did you make this?" Ed asked as he looked around to once again observe the structure.

"Indeed. This will be our base of operations." Envy confirmed.

"What do you mean?" Ed asked curiously.

"Here's where you're going to fill your end of the bargain. You said to me that not all humans are bad, right? And if that's the case, well, it's only natural that you'll help me in my quest to acquire the Philosopher's Stone, and you're going to help me." Envy said.

"Hmm, yeah that's what I said alright, and as much as I hate to say it, I'll have to help you." Ed agreed disappointedly as he crossed his arms. "But then, what's going to happen?" Ed asked, still unsure of where this is going.

There was a pause before anything was said. "We're going raid my master." Envy answered with no hesitation. Ed looked at Envy with pure shock, did he hear that right? After a long pause, Ed began to laugh out loud.

"Aahh, that made my morning a little better. I think that's the funniest thing you've ever said Envy." Ed replied with giddily. Envy just stared at Ed with a plain face.

"Well, it's great that you find this whole thing humorous Ed, but what if I told you that it really wasn't a joke? Envy brought up. Ed quickly switched his mood to a more serious expression.

"Don't lie to me. Why should I believe something like that? Why, all of a sudden would you decide to turn against your master?" Ed asked intently. Envy sighed in disbelief.

"Shouldn't the answer be obvious?" Envy asked.

"No. no it's really not. If you've been working for your master for so many years, then why at this moment, at this point in history, would you decide to turn your back now? It doesn't add up, especially when you consider what happened in Lab 5, you said that you couldn't kill me because you were ordered not to. It hasn't been that long since that time." Ed pointed out with stubborn confidence as his suspicions of Envy sparked up again.

"Well, as you've already seen, homunculi come and go, it's nothing new. And I've already told you what I wanted, but if you don't trust me, so be it, but it won't change my resolve. You will help me whether you like it or not." Envy warned Ed with a smirk creeping on his lips.

'Hmm, I still don't buy it, but I'll just have to keep my guard up.' Ed thought to himself as he read Envy's body language thoroughly.

"And to do that, you'll need to be ready, which is why I'm going to train you, though it won't be pleasant to say the least." Envy warned Ed. Ed looked surprised at first, but quickly relaxed his face to a smirk of his own.

"Well, I wasn't expecting this at all, but I'll take on your challenge because at least it gives me an excuse to start learning how to kick your ass for once." Ed grinned as he balled his fist, imagining his victory against the odds. Envy rolled his eyes.

"After all you've done, you deserve it." Ed added on with a rather cold and bitter tone. Envy chuckled at the change of tone.

"You know, now that I think about, why should I take your word on this offer? It seems weird that I would get "training" from my enemy." Ed added in suspicion.

"Well, you could look at it this way, you won't be such a weakling anymore, especially since you'll be working alongside me now." Envy said. Ed looked slightly offended.

"Listen you arrogant asshole, you're lucky that you have regenerative powers, without that, you wouldn't be alive right now, so don't act all high and mighty." Ed snapped back.

"Uh, no kidding smart alex, that gives me every excuse to act 'all high and mighty', its something you humans can never obtain, even with a stone." Envy gloated, feeling a boost in self-esteem. Ed snickered quietly.

"Once this arbitrary alliance is over, I can't wait to find your remains, wherever they might be, so I can shut you up for good. Training me on your tricks, might just be your last mistake Envy." Ed warned, still conscious of Envy's mysteriously devious aura.

"Yeah, keep dreaming boy. But before we get to that, you need to eat up." Envy said as he petted the barrel with his left hand in a repetitive motion. Ed laid his eyes on the barrel accordingly.

"Which reminds me, where did you get that in the first place?" Ed asked demandingly.

"Why is that a concern? You should be more worried abo-" Envy said before getting cutted off by Ed.

"I asked you where you got it, now tell me." Ed demanded with less patience in his voice. Envy had a slight frown, before smirking back at Ed.

"Someone's getting pushy. What if I told you that I went for a little midnight snooping?" Envy asked rhetorically, getting a somewhat surprised reaction from Ed.

"By snooping, I bet you mean stealing right?" Ed asked as he walked closer towards Envy, pinning his neck to the wooden wall with his elbow once he was close enough to make contact, causing Envy to fall back from his seat on the barrel. Envy face looked emotionless

"How dare you . . I don't know why I'm even surprised. Whoever you stole this barrel from, they were just trying to make a profit off of it, or maybe this is where they store their food. Either way, you've jeopardized their situation, probably for the worst, and you have no problems with that?! What can drive someone to terrorize someone else who has done them no wrong?!" Ed asked aggressively, upsetted by the malicious act. Envy inhaled and exhaled.

"Human morale is so ridiculous." Envy stated.

"What?!" Ed yelled, only to be met with a kick to his right knee, causing him to stumble back. Envy then proceeded to take a few quick jabs to Ed's stomach, punching the breath out of him, and one last kick to the jaw to knock him down on his back. Envy sat on the barrel again like nothing had happened, looking quite pleased with himself. Ed rubbed on his jaw, trying to ease the pain.

"You really are a foolish boy, why should I care whether the person I stole this barrel from thrives or comes out poor? They're going to die eventually, perhaps, I'm doing him a favor by hastening his inevitable demise." Envy said, Ed looked pissed.

"What a lame argument! He wouldn't be wanting to die so easily if he had that barrel in the first place! That's not fair!" Ed shouted back.

"Well, if he was so concerned with his belongings, maybe he should've prepared more accordingly; after all, almost anything's possible in the type of world that we're living in. Besides, your well-being is more important than the status of some other human; you don't even know this individual either, how do you know they haven't lived a life of malice before they decided to take up selling barrels in the public market?" Envy proposed, making Ed rethink his approach and consider those words.

"Don't let your moral attitude blind you of the possibilities Edward, didn't Greed teach you something like that?" Envy asked. Ed regained his train of thought.

"He taught me how to take the lives of monstrosities like you, not to take other innocent people's livelihood, it's not right. If more and more people were like you, our society would be really dysfunctional. That's why the majority of people live out hard working lives to make the best out of their situation, live with purpose, help their communities, and to get an honest payoff." Ed stated.

"What rubbish. It's people like you who only believe that because you allow the laws and restrictions, fabricated by your fellow man, to guide your thinking. It's because you believe in the concepts of good and bad that you've grown unbearably bias. Do you think you're above me simply because you have a 'good' conscious? Yet, look at the state you're in, slumped on your ass, complaining about my once-in-a-lifetime hospitality because you find it bad. You've limited yourself too much." Envy mentioned. Ed stood back up on his feet, dusting off his clothes.

"What do you mean?" Ed asked.

"Well, look at it this way, you still consider yourself a human-being even though you can perform alchemy. With that much, you have a certain edge over other humans who don't possess your talents, so why limit your talents to such a petty concept like morality?" Envy asked with purpose, Ed growled under his teeth and was about to speak again until Envy cutted him off.

"How naive and forgetful you are, Edward. If I recall, even when you learned about the gruesome secret to crafting the philosopher's stone, that didn't stop you from journeying out to find it for the sake of yourself and your brother. And why should you let a secret like that alter your higher judgment? You're on a mission to claim what was taken from you for your stupid mistakes, and you've realized that the only way to get what you want is through hard sacrifice, humans to be exact. And now, you have what you want, but now it seems like you're purposefully running away from your end goal, thinking that it will cleanse your moral understanding of the world . . . and that much pisses me off." Envy said with an undertone of bitterness, causing Ed to stare motionless into Envy's amethyst eyes. Envy took a deep breath as he got up from his seat on the barrel only to walk close up to Ed, to which Ed flinched a little.

"You can't save those lives, ever. And you can't change the minds of those who thirst for power, it's simply human nature." Envy stated as he proceeded to walk behind Eds view.

"If I were you, I would've used the stone the moment I got it, that's what any logical person would do . . . but I'm glad there are naive brats like you out there, it makes my job a whole lot easier." Envy finished as he looked back on Ed with a small grin on his face. Ed faced forward.

"Well, I may be just a "naive brat" to you, but I'm here to make your job a whole lot harder." Ed corrected as he tilted his head back to look back at Envy.

"Hehe, challenged accepted, now eat before I shove that food down your throat." Envy warned.

Eds stomach growled in accordance to Envy's warning. "Hmph, whatever. I guess I have no choice, although…" Ed paused as he clapped his hands and planted them onto the ground, sending an alchemic shockwave into the barrel, causing it to shake a little before stopping. Nothing came of it. Envy chuckled to himself.

"You think I would go that far huh?" Envy asked curiously.

"I wouldn't put it past you." Ed said back.

"Good call." Envy pointed out in a more malicious tone. Ed didn't look back, he proceeded towards the barrel, then uncovered the lid which revealed a bunch of loaves of bread piled up into one space. It was a plentiful sight, but Ed only looked at the bread with depressed eyes. He picked up a piece, and looked at it for a few moments.

"Are you going to stare at it all day, Pipsqueak? Hurry up and chow down before I really start to lose my patience." Envy warned as his voice grew more frustrated. Ed continued to stare as though he never registered what was just said to him. Eventually, he put the piece of bread back into the barrel, causing Envy to outrage.

"What are you doing!? Do you want to starve to death or something?!" Envy shouted angrily at Ed. Ed turned his head to see the angry look on Envy, but he wasn't fazed.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I rather earn my meal than receive it like this." Ed concluded as he proceeded to walk out of the hut, leaving a disappointed Envy behind. Before Ed could exit, Envy regained his cool.

"Fine. See if I care, I'm not your parent after all. Feel free to die because of your own ridiculous pride; I won't tolerate it." Envy said to Ed causing the latter to stop in his tracks.

"I'm glad you feel that way. You should take your own advice too." Ed pointed out, Envy hissed in displeasure.

"Smartass, keeping running your mouth while you have one. And before you kill yourself off, how long has it been since Scar crafted the stone inside your brother?" Envy asked. Ed looked back at Envy in a bit of confusion.

"About a week or so, why?" Ed asked back. Envy looked content with the answer.

"Nothing you need to know." Envy said to Ed, making the latter moan in disappointment.

"Whatever." Ed said as he took he his leave for the outside, Envy went up to the open door frame and peaked around the corner to keep an eye on Ed. His face was filled with seriousness.

'Damn Envy. If he thinks I'm going to become a dog of anything the second time, he's mistaken.' Ed thought to himself as he started his way down the cliff.

"This is the site that blazed of orange flames, right?" An unknown speaker asked.

"Yes, this is where our glory lies." The other speaker reassured to the other one.

In a far edge of the campsite clearing, the tree leaves rustled vigorously...

CHAPTER 11 END


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